


Fall and a Rise: A Storm of Superlative Proportions

by kmandy (WarnadoLovesTacos2020), WarnadoLovesTacos2020



Series: Fall and a Rise: A Vanillacraft Tale [1]
Category: Minecraft (Video Game)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Assassination Plot(s), Conspiracy, Drama, Epic Battles, Gen, Originally Posted Elsewhere, Tragedy, War
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-24
Updated: 2020-12-20
Packaged: 2021-03-09 19:47:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 9
Words: 38,673
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27691612
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WarnadoLovesTacos2020/pseuds/kmandy, https://archiveofourown.org/users/WarnadoLovesTacos2020/pseuds/WarnadoLovesTacos2020
Summary: The Vanilla Craft is one of the oldest and most respected of the great Crafts, and its administrator, Void, has ruled it for hundreds of years. However, tensions have been steadily rising between the Craft's various factions, and now it all is coming to a head. After years of waning influence, Dominus, emperor of the Realm of Seven Kingdoms, has finally given in to grief and ambition and believes he can rule without Void. Civil war is imminent.Now, Kay, the new ruler of the Kingdom of Gaia, finds himself torn between loyalty to Void and a desire for peace. Still mourning the loss of several friends, he suddenly finds himself at the heart of a conspiracy that could undermine the power of the gods themselves.[Part of the Convergence]
Series: Fall and a Rise: A Vanillacraft Tale [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2032558
Comments: 1
Kudos: 1
Collections: The Convergence - The Archives





	1. The Coming Storm

**Book 1:** The Coming Storm

* * *

"For mods sakes, will they ever stop bickering, or at least invite me next time." was the first thing that came to my mind.

Another debate had started up in the Great Forum at The Shrine of Gaia, our "patron deity" (if one aligned themselves with heresy and treason). I had no idea what was being debated or who was taking part, but it was the duty of the various leaders to gather and at least watch the debates. This had been King Peter's duty up until several weeks before, when he fell in the clash with the Brotherhood.

In this clash the Brotherhood had rallied a few thousands of undead pigmen from the foulest regions of the Nether, and intended to use them to wipe out the rest of us before the Moderators could intervene in any meaningful manner. They would have attacked via the Nether Highway, a series of portals between the Overworld (or Sane Realm as some may call it) and Nether, abusing the Nether's contracted size and the skill of Pigmen to launch a series of attacks on enemy capitols before retaliation was possible. We, the Gaians, had caught wind of this via a series of spies and old Pigmen contacts of mine from my days as an officer in Herobrine's army. Despite attempts at ignoring the problem by that obsolete swine Emperor Dominus of The Realm of Seven Kingdoms, we had managed to gather just about all of his closest friends and allies against the threat. We had support form the Companions guild, the tribesmen of La Selva, the Blue Alliance, the Valhallans and the (secretly immortal) warrior order Arcation. All of these were traditionally valuable vassals to Dominus, and his absence had been noted. 

His response to people not listening to him was to allow a Brotherhood coup in the kingdom of Rome to go off with minimal opposition, resulting in it subsequently seceding from his kingdom. In short, it was not a good month to be Dominus. Only Williamsburg had remained loyal. 

Nonetheless there had been a massive battle between the Gaian alliance under Peter and the Brotherhood army under Tauto Chrone. While we received disproportionate casualties, including the loss of our dear King, we had managed to collapse the Nether Highway on top of the army the Brotherhood had amassed, dispersing it. My own climactic slaying of Tauto Chrone had also shaken their resolve. He had crumbled to dust and later regained physical form, whereas Peter and many of our own had fallen permanently. However, despite Brotherhood not losing any of its core leadership, they had openly conceded defeat at Peter's funeral and my coronation.

Anyway, all of that had passed. We'd agreed to a treaty to prevent any further bloodshed. Dwelling on the losses was purposeless. A new era was beginning.

I grabbed my sceptre, pulled back my crimson hood and checked that my cotton shirt had nothing on it. I did however notice that there was a piece of liquorice stuck to my auburn beard. Upon seeing this I tugged. It wouldn't budge.

The door opened as I finally managed to get it free, along with a large lump of hair. At this I let out an unearthly scream just as young Linx (captain of the guard) walked into the room. I turned - not having heard the door open, or seen Linx enter due to my bad eye - to see a very startled looking young man in ceremonial Gaian military dress staring at me. Embarrassed, I tossed the hairy piece of liquorice aside and said "Yes?" as casually as I could.

At this he pulled himself together, adjusted his green beret and said "Your entourage is waiting for you in the courtyard my king."

"Ah yes, of course!" I said quickly, "Shall we?"

And with that we set off to the courtyard. Waiting there was the present council and a few high-ranking Gaians. Among them were: Astro Joe of knowledge district. His greyish black hair and beard clund tightly to him. Wrapped around his was a fur-trimmed cloak of black velvet, with his warm face crinkled into a perpetual faint smile.

At his side was the aspiring young mage Bokane, dressed in his Thaumaturge's attire. Hanging from his shoulders was a hulking purple overcoat, laced with that magical metal, thaumium. Beneath that was an elaborate doublet of similar fabric. From his side hung his gold-tipped wand, and at the other side his purple-bladed sword.

Secret Loll, my top General was standing perched against a low archway, inspecting his ancient sword. Around his head was a fully formed copper mane and beard that burned in the sunlight. Across his back was slung a great ebony bow and a quiver filled to the brim with enchanted arrows. As one found its mark it would vanish, and reappear in his quiver. A gift from the days of the Onslaught, and a sign of his status.

Aaron, my friend and the new CEO of the Gaian manufacturing industry, stood next to him, pondering enthusiastically about whatever fantastical danger he could think of. He was by all means a pessimist, but he was an imaginative one and he didn't fear consequence in the same way others of his ilk were. Whilst some of his ideas bordered on the ludicrous, he was still a useful man for finding potential problems in plans and figuring out how to correct them. He and secret made a dangerous team in war. Aaron the strategist; Secret the improviser.

He was a large man, once known as the giant of Stoneholm. On his back was a hulking sword that most men would be challenged to carry. His skin was of a light olive shade, and his hair jet black. Around his head was tightly wrapped a dark green bandana. Always smiling, always trustworthy, he and Astro were the ones I held the highest of my friends.

Further across the courtyard was the even larger Mini Munch, the half breed. In the midday sun his patchy and coarse green skin glinted greasily. His tattered suit hung limply off of his lopsided shoulders. Everything about him was uneven, from his slow limp to his mismatched black eyes. Physically he was some sort of grotesque Frankenstein, but to be honest he was a warm-hearted young lad. The youngest of us (merely 25 years) and easily the least wary of the ways of the world. Nonetheless he was an infectious optimist and a useful asset.

Antony Mo of the Commerce section was a naval explorer. I knew little else of him other than that he and Astro were close and to be honest we didn't get on well enough for me to care to know more.

Then there was my man in commerce. Cossack, a man infinitely more qualified for Mo's position. A banker of the highest calibre, having fought his way to the top of the Arcadian market before Grumm repossessed his business. Since then I'd met with him and we'd become somewhat inseparable partners over the years. He knew all of my secrets, and I knew just about all of his.

Small Doughnut was a young aristocrat who appreciated the finer things in life, such as painting; poetry; literature; vintage wines and premeditated murder. He was an assassin by trade, but I'd managed to convince him to take the cushy post of head of Agriculture in order to keep my opponents out of government. His hair was of platinum blond, hinting at his Divine heritage. He sat on bench in the shade, a placid bliss upon his features and a glass of wine in a hand that seem to have evolved specifically for the object.

There were a few other minor assistants and diplomats of little significance, not all of whom were comfortable with their new king. Even though Peter had named me his heir, the biological sons had still tried to toss their hats back in the ring. A friend of Peter's son Josh I hadn't yet dealt with here. A pagan with sympathies to the late Slim (the middle child) there. Everyone else was either too terrified to oppose us, or were sane as their former king, and had realised that the other candidates would have destroyed Gaia within a month. Although I have to say, the death of the illegitimate one was a regrettable measure, but one that I had no part in. Small and Cossack had made that judgement without me.

"What happened to your beard Kay?" Came the weary, but amused voice of my most trusted counsel, Astro. "Liquorice again?"

"You guessed it." I replied disinterestedly. Then it dawned on me, "What's wrong with it?!"

"Nothing." Came the playful voice of Secret as he ran a long finger along the edge of his chipped sword, "That is, if you call having a golf ball sized hole in your beard nothing."

"Really?" I said in shock, looking at my reflection in my sceptre. "Bugger! Ah well, no time to fret. Activate the shrine portal and let's go."

"Of course _sire._ " came Astro's worn out voice. He had been like this since the battle, when Tassadar had fallen in combat with the Brotherhood. He seemed to have all but lost his fight.

 _"He needs a rest."_ I thought, _"I must talk to him about it after the debate."_  
  
Five minutes later we were standing at the foot of the shrine, the debate raging on a little outside the forum, at the base of the steps up to Void's small stone house. It was a wonderful system the shrines. They were charged up gradually by sunlight (usually taking five days to a week) and could be used to transport a group of people to any other shrine across the Craft, consuming more energy with greater leaps. Controlled by Void and his moderators, they were integral to the functioning of the Craft. The names were merely mocking stabs at the pagan beliefs held by the Noobian and Testificate tribes who still occasionally appeared to make their meagre offerings.

Dominus, emperor of the Realm of the Seven kingdoms and the Brotherhood were arguing again. At first I thought it was just another territory feud (probably another round in Dominus demanding back the kingdom of Rome with empty threats that everyone scoffed at), or them bickering about who started the "Great War" between the two groups, or Dominus declaring his outrage at the Brotherhood for them raiding some trading caravan headed for the Realm. That it was at first glance. In fact I was about to give my entourage the order to disperse themselves, perhaps even wander off myself a little later. However, then it happened.

"I will not stand for you or your excuses anymore Void! Either relinquish their control of Blue land, or you will regret it!" Came the outraged voice of Dominus following a loud cracking noise.

A large circle had formed around the stairs leading to void's house. At the centre was Ubi, a leading figure in the Brotherhood, lying on his back unconscious, turtle mask lying fractured on the ground beside him. Tending to his bleeding nose were Tauto Chrone (their leader, and the one I slew), Jay "The Jolly Saint" Chrone (the brother of the aforementioned and something of a hero among their ranks) and Komplex (their finest warrior).

Dominus himself was throwing stones at Void's house. Around the edge of the ring were the various kings of the Realm and Dom's wife, Ellen. Some looked positively triumphant, while others looked most worried indeed.

I looked around for someone I knew. There he was, Vacar, one of Arcation's finest fighters. He would know what was going on.

"Any chance you could fill me in friend?"

"Well, it started out as a simple argument about the Brotherhood's new garrison in the newly independent Kingdom of Rome. Whether they're allowed to own land in the Blue territories when they're based in Red lands." He said the last few words with a touch of venom, recalling the state's recent actions. "Then Emperor Wise-**** over here started ranting about how "unfair" the system was and how "Void should step down for a real leader". He then began to throw stones at Void's house. When Turtle boy tried to negotiate," He gestured to the still unconscious Ubi. "He punched him in the face and knocked him unconscious. It was quite entertaining actually..."

"I'm sure it was." I responded, laughing uneasily. "So is it like that Zerg bloke?"

Zerg was an old moderator/self-proclaimed administrator who supposedly went crazy, helped to form a new Craft in the far away Kreatious territories. He had gone centuries before I was born, there weren't many texts about the period around and the moderators didn't like to talk about him. Vacar however, was Gogyst's apprentice. And Gogyst was technically immortal, having been a moderator at a time and since then found a super secret method of immortality which he constantly spread rumours about the existence of. I was really just fact-checking where convenient.

"I guess so," He began, quite clearly distracted. "Thankfully Dominus hasn't gathered an army and attempted to take over the Craft. Or, at least the attempting to take over part."

Then one of Dominus's stones smashed a stain glass window with a deafening crash. There was a gasp from the crowd. Dominus meant business. The door suddenly swung open. Out strolled Void, who simply pointed at the shattered glass with his diamond tipped staff and caused it to reform in an even more beautiful pattern. "Yes?" Came the deep, gravelly, yet calm and somewhat amused voice of Void.

"You wanted me Dominus?" He reiterated, drawing back his hood to reveal warm brown eyes, a frail form and a light grey beard. There was an omniscient air to him, as if he already knew what you were about to say to a T and yet still intended to humour you because he was that nice.

Dominus, who was looking quite surprised at Void's sudden appearance and serene attitude pulled himself together and yelled. "RELEASE THEIR CONTROL OF OUR LAND NOW OR YOU'LL HAVE THE REALM TO DEAL WITH! They go against the treaty by taking hold of this land. Surely YOU of all people can understand my outrage?"

"Why, I most certainly do Dominus. However," He walked down the steps and placed his arm around Dominus' shoulder in a friendly way. "You lack a crucial piece of information."

"And what would that be?" snarled Dominus, lifting away Void's arm.

"That only their new recruits, people with Roman citizenship, are living there. They wish to offer the citizens of Rome safety from future attacks by the Realm upon them. They, as was their right as a now independent state, agreed and placed themselves under the control of the Brotherhood. In fact, there hasn't been a legal boundary between the Blue and Red territories since the united governments were destroyed eight years ago. If they use it as a bastion for attacks they're doing it completely within the law. Besides, I'm sure you're at not risk. When was the last time the Brotherhood actually issued a proper threat to your Realm? Four, no five years ago wasn't it?" Void pleaded with Dom.

"Excuses! Always excuses. If you won't make changes, we'll have to ourselves..." said Dominus with an air of malice.

"Now Dominus," Began Void, but he never finished the sentence; for Dominus had pulled a small axe from beneath his cloak and swung it at Void's neck.

I watched in awe as Void simply batted it aside. Dominus, flustered, pulled a second concealed axe out and gaped in horror as it shattered against Void's forearm. Their eyes met for a few brief seconds, and I could swear I saw Void cock an eyebrow and mouth "Bitch, please."

Dominus then extended a small knife from beneath his sleeve and lunged at Void once more. Void simply held up his hand in a 'stop' gesture and Dominus' simply froze up. Try as he might he couldn't move a muscle. Then Void simply closed his hand into a fist and the blade shattered into thousands of jagged shards; all of which toppled to the floor. Void then simply poked his golden staff in Dominus' direction and he went flying into the crowd.

"NOW!" Dominus yelled as he soared over the heads of the people.

Then all hell broke loose. The Valhallans, the Wedgians and most of Williamsburg drew swords, as did roughly half of the Seven Kings. Out of the crowd came a contingent of Realm warriors; not particularly good or well-equipped fighters, but still numerous enough to pose a real threat. From thin air the moderators appeared around the now panting Void (time was evidently taking its toll; first Astro, now Void), and began to blast back the attackers with their staffs. Then came the rallying cry of "Defend the Administrator!" and all who were able burst into action.

"Are The Brotherhood the only ones who obey the Forum's "no weapons" policy?" came the cry of Komplex as he punched out a Valhallan.

"Nope!" Shouted Ray Tunes, mayor of Williamsburg as he was blasted in Komplex's general direction by Epsilon. It probably wasn't wise for him to take part in the coup when he only had an incredibly hard baguette for a weapon.

"Don't worry Komp!" I shouted, grappling with Cabbage, a general of Valhalla. "Only Secret was dishonest enough to subvert the policy from our ranks."

"If you can't beat them, Kay!" Called Secret mockingly from his perch in the shrine tree as he dispatched yet another warrior of the Realm with his bow.

I rolled my eyes and swept Cabbage's legs out from beneath him.

Fifteen minutes later we'd managed to quell the rebellion with minimal casualties. The surviving rebels had their weapons piled at the foot of the shrine and were gathered in the centre of the Forum. Before them stood Rage Peanut, Void's man for weeding out traitors, criminals and ass-hats. The man had purged the "starter zone" of crime three times over and was still standing. A true hero of the Craft; however harsh he could get, or pretend to be when defending Void.

"Where is Dominus?" Came the angry demand from Rage Peanut. "I know you're still here. It's my job to find you for trial. Step forward or I could get nasty."

He waited a few seconds. Nothing.

"Well then," He said with mock pleasure, although I could swear the twisted look in his eye was real. "I guess I'll have to be more persuasive then."

At that a small, spring-loaded firearm sprung from his sleeve into his palm. The weapon in question was a weapon known as the "Baby Jesus Perk", pioneered by The Brotherhood during the Great War. I had never seen their usefulness in battle, even started questioning it, up until the Battle for the Nether Hub. They were truly lethal, inside battle, and outside.

He pressed it against the head of Prodigy, Tassadar's brother and Ray's adopted son. I saw Astro flinch. The two had never gotten on very well, but Prodigy was his last connection to her. At this I contemplated that there may have been more to their partnership then business, perhaps friendship. That was as far as my imagination could stretch and I was drawn back to the scene of the interrogation by Rage yelling, "You have to the count of three to come out Dominus, then I kill him."

"One." A bead of sweat rolled down my temple. "Two." A tear flowed from Prodigy's eye. "Three-"

"Wait!" Came the voice of Void, who had just recovered from a prolonged coughing fit. "Just summon him!"

"Fine. If you want to do it the dull way..." Responded Rage, grumbling as he closed his eyes and pointed his staff into the crowd.

Two seconds later Dominus' flailing form soared towards Rage from the crowd, shrieking as he did so. Then, before he knew what had happened, his wind was cut off by Void's vice-like grip. He squeezed momentarily, causing the Emperor's eyes to bulge, before throwing him to the ground, retching and gasping.

"Emperor Dominus III of the Dominii line, Regent of the Realm of the Seven Kingdoms, defender of the faith, son of Dominus II and father of the late Elysium heed my words. You are hereby exiled from the Vanilla Craft, on accounts of treason, disturbing the peace, littering, asshattery, and wasting Moderator time. You have ten days to rally all loyal to you and leave." Recited Ryan calmly and with as little emotion as possible.

"Exiled hey? So you want me to leave Void. Do you? Because I think that is the best idea you've ever had. I'm leaving, and so should everyone who feels the same way as me." Proclaimed the hoarse voice of Dominus as he lifted himself from the dusty stones.

And then he and many others left, in the directions of the great gates. Surprisingly Ray Tunes and many Williamsburg citizens who were involved stayed behind. Although I was sure I saw he and Dominus exchange a meaningful look, and nod, as if in agreement. _"Best keep an eye on Ray,"_ I thought. _"He's up to no good."_

Before leaving the Forum boundaries Dominus yelled "You'll Rue the day you crossed me Void." And with a flutter of his obscenely long red cape he left.

At this point Astro mouthed "I'm sorry" to me and walked off. All I could say was, "Promise me you'll write!" and with a smile filled with guilt and nostalgia, he was gone in the crowd.

"Seal the way after them." Void whispered to Epsilon. "And reopen the Omega Initiative. I fear this is only a shower, the storm is yet to come."


	2. The Party

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kay and the Council attend a party, while Linx and the Order embark on a daring infiltration job. Meanwhile, a mysterious figure known as Overlord has other plans for how the night will go down.

"So then he said he'd lower Gaia's inflation by the end of the month. But here's the bizarre twist - HE DIDN'T! So I evicted him and got his whole business!" Guffawed Commerce's new leader, Cossack.

As none of us got what he was on about, or how it was uplifting that he evicted a man and stole his business; so we just laughed politely. I saw Alec and Ozzy, leaders of La Selva, exchange a confused glance and smile half-heartedly. I didn't blame them, Cossack was a tough act to follow. However he and I had been through a lot together. He'd always been at my side, even before the battle for Zine Craft, before Astro even turned up. He was also a nice enough guy once you got to know him. He'd just been through a lot with Mo's sudden decision to up sticks and having to take over Commerce.

As for where we were, Gaba Mann, the esteemed inventor and businessman, had decided to throw a "little gathering" in his house. He did this every now and then, spending some of the fortune he'd earned from his railway monopoly on the public. We were in the penthouse suite of the Realm of Seven Kingdom's great citadel. Gaba had woken up the morning of Dominus' departure to discover that he was the only resident apart from a few transient stragglers who weren't generally citizens of the Realm. Therefore, he decided to claim the citadel for himself and throw a party.

We were in Gaba's penthouse suite, with the rest of the Craft's elite. Among the guests were; Gogyst and a small group of Arcation warriors; those Iron-worshiping pirates "Woobly", and their pet iron golem dubbed, "Wiseau"; some members of the Brotherhood, including Atreidon, a former moderator and a powerful warrior, and Beatman, a turncoat from the Realm; Ozzy and Alec of La Selva; Piethingey and Mj of the Void; Boston; the moderators Cubsfan and Epsilon; Wolves, the demi-mod ruler of Vangaard; the Gaian council and a few prominent members; and The Kingdom of Gaia's new business partners, Key G. Persson of the Blue Alliance and Walt Ham, owner of Waltco and founder of Walthampton. Outside, surrounding the citadel were a series of tents and tables lined with cakes and ale and many other delicacies. This was where the general public dined.

The Gaian Gcouncil were scattered through-out the room. I was the centre, with Gaba, Ozzy, Alec, Cossack, ABB, Wolves, Gogyst, and Vacar; making pleasant conversation whilst drinking ale. Aaron was standing amidst a crowd of people from various groupswho were chanting "Chug! Chug! Chug!" as he downed pie after pie. Bokane and Mini were standing on the far side of the room, so drunk they were competing for the iron golem's love. Small was standing in between them, trying to keep them from killing each other. Meanwhile Secret was sitting in the corner in a chair, bow lain across his legs, completely asleep, but still looking intimidating. I blinked and the scene completely changed. He all of a sudden was wearing gold chains, had ginger dreadlocks, a great pink top hat, a tattered white suit, a tattoo on his neck saying "Thug Life" and was surrounded by dancing Testificates. I dismissed this on the drink and the weed smoke billowing from Wolves' pipe.

Cossack and I, despite the shenanigans of our comrades, were here on business. Cossack's job was to look into potential business connections with other groups and gather useful intelligence while they were drunk and or high. Mine was a different task altogether. I was organising a group of people to break into a top secret vault; supposedly containing prototype weapons made by the Realm's High Tinkerer himself, Fedwin. The reason; Fedwin had not gone with Dominus, and in apparent retaliation been attacked in his apartment and put into a heavy mental coma. When we'd been to visit him he'd said something in his sleep, "Operation Overlord; beneath citadel; 3,15,4,5: 6,5,4,26,23,9,14,12,15,12." To most this was dismissed as blood-loss.

I, however, was reminded of the times I'd spent listening in on Realm radio chatter. One thing that stood out was "Operation Overlord". It was a phrase I'd heard over their waves many times. Astro had known more about it than me, he'd said something about a bunker beneath the citadel but hadn't elaborated. "If only he were here," I thought, "He'd know what it meant". But he wasn't there, so I had to work from memory and the Gaian records. There was one file, detailing a number of shadowy transactions and results about some form of test, even naming the operation. However any details were torn out. I barely gave thought to the numbers any thought.

Walt was the one who noticed an order in the chaos. He suggested that it may be a code. With the help of Killer; Abb's brother we found that the numbers translated as "CODE: FEDZWINLOL". Cone to think of it This had also been mentioned on the R7K chatter during the war, I was certain. So I'd told the boys from the Order to sneak in while the party was going on, locate the vault, and find out what the hell was going on.

I received a call on my earpiece. A marvellous piece of machinery, only a range of 3 kilometres without a relay, but still very useful for jobs like this. "Excuse me please Gba I need to take this call." I said, standing up slowly, and walking over to the punch bowl. I held up my sleeve to my mouth. "Yes?"

"The cuckoo has cracked the eggs alpha omega warlord sir!" Came the voice of Linx through the earpiece.

"Linx, cut the bullshit and tell the magic mushroom what he wants!" came the voice of Bokane, still drunk. I knew it had been a bad idea to give him an earpiece and microphone. "I'm so h-happy!" He then slumped against the golem and passed out.

I mouthed sorry to Gaba and gestured to Cossack and Small to remove Bokane from the room and put him down to sleep in one of the empty apartments.

"Sorry what did you say Linx? I couldn't understand a word. Bokane was actually right." I began slightly irritably.

"Sorry sir it's just Itzburg's old manual -"

"Do you really think, anyone actually read that?" I said, chuckling. The former General Itzburg had spent a lot of time making dummy code books and raid procedures to mess with people.

"No. Sorry sir." He conceded; sounding deflated. "But anyway. We've cracked the vault and are currently entering. Some form of ancient machine Fedwin restored was locking it. What was it a "Computater"? Anyway we put the code into the computater and are looking for any traces of Operation Overlord. But," He paused

"But what?"

"We think someone's been here recently. First thing we noticed were fresh bootprints and that someone appears to have been dragged through. I'm starting to think that someone else is one step ahead of us."

"Keep me posted" I said hurriedly, and hung up the call.

As I returned to making pleasant conversation in the party Linx and his team were preparing for action. There were eight of them. All armed with enchanted combat knives, top of the range bows, and Gaian special forces armour. This was basically just toughened black leather and a black beret but it looked badass. These were The Kingdom's eyes and ears. Every day they waged cloak and dagger warfare with our enemies, but today was their first real operation outside of stirring up trouble in Brotherhood controlled territories and kidnapping Komplex's pets. The team was lead by Linx; with seven others accompanying him. They entered the room in a wedge formation, arrows knocked, proceeding slowly. They reached a three-way fork in the roads. Down each way was lined with what looked like segments of filing cabinets. However, at the end of the centre path was a second sealed vault door, up a short flight of stairs just four steps high.

Linx cleared his throat and delivered his orders. "Tejmin, you and Blaze head right. Follow the tracks and see who or what was dragged down that way. Allison, MPD and Prippe. You head left, look for Operation Overlord. NC and I will head straight forward and see if we can do the same. Dawz, stay here and cover our back. If you see anyone, fire a flare and identify if they are friend or foe. Everybody clear then? Good. Move out!"

There was the traditional "HOO-HAH!" before they moved out. Creeping along the corridor to the left went Allison and her team. They walked in the dark for what seemed like an eternity in the tension; until they found what they were looking for. There it was: a small compartment labelled "Overlord".

"Excellent," said Allison; very pleased with herself. This could spell promotion for her. She tugged at it. "Bugger! Locked!"

"Allow me." Came the cocky, heavily accented voice of Prippe. "I will get zis open."

At that he brought his combat knife down on the lock. "Simples. Now let's get zis open! I want to get out of here fast. It gives me ze creepz." And he started to tug. At last he got it open and stuck his hand in.

"Wait Prippe! It could be trap-" Then the bomb went off, and the world went white, and then black.

There were reverberations all the way up the citadel. Panic ensued up in the room of the party and some of the rabble outside appeared to be most amused. After two minutes of complete chaos Gaba managed to calm everyone down. "Calm down everyone! Calm down! We're built near a fault line; tremors are really common here. Besides, we've had worse Earthquakes on Taco Night!"

This gathered a mixed response of groans and chuckles and then everyone returned to business. Cossack approached me. "I suppose you had something to do with that." He said dryly. "Time to tell me what you're really doing here. Don't give me that bull about being here for the crack of it. I know that's on half the truth."

And so I briefly recounted the story of Fedwin's injury, and his message, and the team that was currently in the bunker beneath the Citadel. "... I don't know what happened down there but it can't be good." I finished, more panic in my voice than I would like.

"I understand." Cossack responded, his eyebrows furrowed in concentration. "Ring up Linx. I'll get Secret; I assume you've briefed him?"

"Why yes of course. Ah I see he's gotten up."

"What on Earth is he wearing?" Came the disgusted whisper of Cossack as he gestured to Secret to come over. I appears the only things I imagined were the hat and tattoo because the rest was still there. As he jogged over his dreadlocks fell off; thank Notch, it was a wig!

"So it's no just me." I said, smirking.

"Before you ask." Secret began, "I have no idea where the clothes came from. I nodded off; and when I woke up I was dressed like this with two Testificates wobbling like jelly in the qua-"

"It was a bomb. The team's cocked up." Interrupted I.

"Well then, that explains it." He replied, realisation entering his eyes. "I suppose you want me to check on them."

"Both will of us will go. Cossack, as you were. You're doing doing great. Make sure to warn the others. Secret, give him your earpiece. We'll grab you Bokane's as we pass the room he's crashed out in."

"I see I've missed quite a bit." He remarked, grinning cheerily. "Ah well, Allons-y!" And we were off. On my last glance back, I saw Cossack striking up a conversation with Wolves, to have fumes exhaled in his face.

And so I called up Linx as we rushed through the empty moonlit hallways of the citadel, footsteps echoing off of the marble walls. I let out a string of curses as the first attempt failed. The second went no better. At last I succeeded on the third attempt. "What's going on down there Linx. We heard the explosion."

"Ah yes. Sorry sir. Glad to see there was no damage to the citadel. Prippe, Allison and MDP found Overlord in a compartment. They opened it u., Prippe stuck his hand in and some form of fireball shot up and hit the ceiling; which only has a very thin layer off earth before reaching the foundations. We were afraid we may have collapsed the tower.

"Well, you didn't. Hooray! Now. Did anything inside survive?"

"The compartment? Nothing. We did however find Killer, and what we believe was Fedwin's workshop here. However, Killer is unconscious. We found him in a half-open compartment, muttering about being "sorry" and having been "tricked". And the workshop is sealed from the inside. We can hear faint sounds of machinery inside. We also think we hear someone approaching every now and then. There's no evidence anyone but us and the people in the vault ."

"This doesn't bode well." Secret grimly remarked into the microphone in his sleeve. "We're on our way."

"Glad to see you're alive and well General!" Said Linx perikily

"Glad to be alive Linx. Glad to be alive." He said, ripping off the ridiculous clothing as he ran, thankfully wearing his armour beneath. He whipped out his bow and hoisted the quiver up nearer to his shoulder. Now, with the fiery beard he had grown, and the straight, chin-length hair, he looked like a true general.

All of a sudden I got a call from Cossack. "Yes Coss?"

"Things are taking a turn for the worse. First, Jay and Tauto did their rendition of Taylor Swifts "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together", with Ubi and Beat as back-up dancers." He shivered and then continued. "And now some ass-wipe in a mask called in his regiment of armed goons and demanded Gaba's surrender of the Mods, Atreidon and the Brotherhood members. Gaba refused, then the guy started stirring up the commoners into some form of blind rage. Calls himself Overlord. Not going to lie, it's getting scary!"

"Don't worry. It'll blow over. Idiots like him show up all the time. They never amount to anything." I airily responded, trying to ignore the fact that I used to be one such idiot.

"Oh Mods! They're bridging over the moat and climbing up the walls. There's some that have already made it to the lower floors." He was on the verge of complete mania now.

"Keep calm. Just try and hold them back. Throw anything down. What's Gaba's plan?"

"He said something about a special set of fireworks. Scaring them off."

"Keep me updated. Bye." I hung up and turned to Secret. "We need to get them out of there."

"Definitely." He replied, exasperated.

And so we ran as fast as we could. Fires were starting outside; the rabble were trying to destroy the various buildings outside. A quick glance through a window revealed the Great Bank of the Realm completely ablaze. I paused to take in the flickering blades of red and orange stabbing through the growing cracks in the sky blue lapis roof. However, this moment of horrendous intrigue was interrupted as a raider with a crude club climbed up and smash open the window. He began to run at me; before I could even grab the hilt of Amicus, Secret had put and arrow in his temple. I then proceeded to throwing him back through the window; on top of his companions. We proceeded to run towards the vault. At last we came to the open vault door. What greeted us was the embodiment of chaos.

Along the hall the once pristine metal compartments along the walls were stained with blood; or dented; or blown or ripped out of the wall. The sealed door at the end of the corridor looked as if it had been ripped open. The floor was riddled with craters and blood and scorch marks. Throughout the corridor were the outnumbered members of the Order and these mysterious masked insurgents who were trying to overcome them, as well as the assorted casualties of both sides.

On the small flight of stairs, a tall, weedy-looking man with a creepy smiley faced mask was throwing explosive bottles throughout the corridor. He had no regard for who he killed, laughing maniacally. Viral was obviously having one of his monthly midnight strolls.

Prippe and another man lay beside the ripped vault door. Prippe clutched his knife feebly, one arm in a sling. The other man I recognised as another member of the Order, Killer, brother of Abby who led the Companions. He looked pretty badly beaten. Allison was engaged in combat with two armed men in ski masks in an attempt to protect her two injured comrades. However, creeping round her right was another, and they were heading straight for Linx. Secret struck him down with two arrows, one to the leg and another to the head. He slumped onto the floor and lay still, darkness covering his eyes before he crumbled to dust and flew back to whatever corner of the Earth he came from.

Linx was combating a large, bulky man wielding a chain with a knife on the end. Linx ducked under the oncoming blade and dispatched his foe with three jabs in the ribs with his blade. He saw us as a goon ran up to me, subsequently being gutted.

"Sir, you've got to stop them. They've gathered some form of arms cache on a mule drawn cart, guarded by this strange Golem. It's far more intelligent and versatile than our Golems, and it has some very dangerous firearms. We don't know what's in the cache, other than the Overlord is in it."

"Any idea what that is?" Inquired Secret, eyes alive with the fire of battle.

"We know that it's linked to some form of potion or elixir that improves soldiers; thanks to a file Killer had hidden inside his coat. But, the file was damaged and we couldn't find much else. There was an interesting story we found about a certain subject 16 who developed a certain blood-lust and turned on the scientists; later escaping. Before he escaped they named his condition Complex 16 and subsequently started called him that. He escaped two weeks aft-"

"We don't have time. Where's this cache?" I interrupted. As interesting a story as this was I was unable to see the use or meaning of it.

"They're heading towards the drawbridge. About eight strong. Well equipped for close quarters combat. We can handle ourselves here."

"Thank you Linx." And so we belted towards the gates, weapons drawn.

The curtains and wallpapers of those old halls were catching fire by the second. The remaining residents of the Citadel and Gaba's private security were fighting desperately to keep out the growing horde with any weapons they would find. Stopping only to throw attackers out of our way we turned a corner. There I ran straight into Gogyst; Arcation's leader.

After a brief moment of sword pointing and drawing of bowstrings we recognised each other. Standing in front of us was Gogyst, Walkers, Bokane; now appearing sober and holding a floating ball of light, Ozzy and Walt. We lowered our weapons but were still wary.

"What are you doing here?" Asked Gogyst.

"We think it has something to do with Fedwin. But right now these creeps with a high-tech weapons cache and a superman Golem are heading towards the gate."

"Good, we're heading there too!" Then the outer drawbridge collapsed. Only now did I notice the men holding ropes standing on the other side of the moat. They began to charge and pull down the inner drawbridge. "To stop that..."

We belted down and came to a flight of steps that revealed the caravan; with the Golem staring at the inner drawbridge.

It was a large creature, just a small bit shorter than our golems. The joints were smooth balls, as opposed to our metal coils, which could easily be jammed by an arrow or spear. The top of it's head was smooth, as opposed to the rigid rectangular heads that I was used to. It's chest was plated with diamond. The eyes were what struck me most. There was a life, an awareness in those red pupils. It was unsettling. Then I realised that it had seen us and was preparing to attack.

Gogyst acted first and tackled one of the humans. Walt and Bokane ran after him, leaving myself, Secret, Ozzy and Walkers to fight the Golem. Secret nocked one of his cherished explosive arrows and fired at the Golems neck joint. The arrow exploded, but did little else except leave some scorch marks. I ran up alongside Walkers and we used the high-low tactic. He slid between it's legs and managed to leave a jagged tear in its foot. I jumped up and sliced downwards on it's shoulder. However, the tear in its foot began to weave back together. And my blade left little more then a mild dent on the might iron frame of the Golem.

Time slowed down. The end of it's square fist opened to reveal what looked like a multi-barrelled "Baby Jesus Perk". Then it batted me aside, causing me to indent the stone wall. I collapsed on my back, staring up at the skylight. The moon was shining a bright blue. The sky a murky brown from the flame below. It seemed as if hell itself had opened up down here and it remained the last haven of all that is good. I turned my head and saw it firing. Secret was flying back, his breastplate shattering; blood staining the pieces. Ozzy was lying on the floor clasping his leg. Blood was pooling around him. Walt was struck by a shell in the shoulder, knocking him to the floor.

Gogyst lay on the ground, being brutalised by 4 or so insurgents. Bokane was being held against the wall, being pummelled by a man much larger than he. Walkers made his last stand atop the cache. Finally he fell to the floor, yelling out insults. Then the gate came crashing down and the hordes poured in. All seemed lost, until a small red light shot down the corridor, ricocheting of the walls, whistling like a kettle.

All of a sudden, it exploded into the form of a sparkling red dragon. The I heard the sounds of the horde retreating in fear, and saw the Golem and cache following close behind. The red dragon crawled out after them, roared a tongue of shimmering flame and took flight. The sky filled with the beasts, blue, red, yellow, green, Nyan Cat. A sight of beauty. Gaba had succeeded. Then my strength failed me, and I passed out.


	3. The Mystery of Overlord

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kay learns the story of Operation Overlord, in the hopes of trying to figure out who this new terrorist is.

My eyes fluttered open to be greeted by a white emptiness. "Is this Aether?" I thought to myself. "Am I dead?". I saw the great, polished pearly gates leading into that fabled land. They swung upon, revealing an unearthly light. Thus the hand of Notch reached out to me, and I reached out to take his hand, gliding through the nothingness. He hadn't changed a day sine that fateful battle when he was ascended; and Jeb took the throne with Herobrine at his side. All the time the echoes of life were growing fainter in my ears. The noises of groans and suffering faded out of my conscience. I had found peace at last. But then the noises resurged. Notch's hand retreated into the light, while the emptiness itself turned to a sea of shadows and I toppled into them. In them I saw all my sins flash before my eyes, and in the future a great darkness that I could not see. A man chained in fire, with Dominus standing over him. "What will you give me?" he asked Dominus. "Revenge." He replied. Then the scene dissolved into various images of death and destruction, of armies and at the centre of it all, him; Overlord.

"Kay! Wake up Kay! He's pulling through!" Yelled the familiar voice of Mini through the maelstrom.

I sat bolt upright, panting heavily, breaking out in a cold sweat. Standing over me were Mini, Small (his helmet off for once), and Aaron; all practically beaming. "Welcome back to the world of the living old friend." Chortled Aaron. He was feeling the same sense of nostalgia I was. He, Small, Cossack and Secret had found me like this once before, during that year we'd spent wandering the world after the Onslaught ended. _"Ah memories..."_ I thought.

"What happened?" I asked them. "Did we win?"

"The fireworks scared off the rabble, so I guess you could say we won." Responded Aaron, granite-like face suddenly etched with seriousness. "But Overlord vanished along with his private army, the cache and the Golem. Viral was picked up by the boys from the Calais Asylum. They say he should be fine after a night of rehabilitation. Gogyst, Walt, Walkers and Bokane are at least vaguely okay. Gogyst has a cracked rib or two, and a mild limp. Walkers received a few cuts but nothing too serious. Walt's right arm is in a sling for a few days. Bokane, is still concussed; he received one hell of a battering from that guy. I'm sure he'll be mightily pissed off when he regains full awareness. Ozzy's leg is really badly injured. There's talk of amputating it from the knee down. Poor guy. And Secret..." His voice trailed off gravely. I thought I saw a tear forming in the corner of his eye, but it was gone before I could be certain.

"What happened to Secret?" I was practically yelping. What had happened? I felt a pang of guilt for dragging Secret into this. "Is he-"

"Dead?" Responded Small, face pale. "No. He's alive, it's whether he'll be able to live fully."

"I don't understand."

"Best you see for yourself." He grunted. "Can you walk?"

"I think so..." I stood up and tried a few paces. I was a bit wobbly but I could move properly.

Therefore, we set off to find Secret amidst the ruins. Down torn up roads amidst burn-out shops and houses. Along the way I saw what had become of many of our Gba's guests. Wolves and the group from Vangaard were in the wreckage of a bar, downing budget flagons. Wolves had abandoned his pipe, looking thoroughly sober as he and Rage exchanged war stories. At first I was confused as to where the pipe had gone, and why he had been smoking herbs to begin with, then I realised that it had been 4/20 yesterday, and dismissed my confusion. Wringelle of La Selva had come up to see his leader, but was trying to find out what happened from Pie and Mj. This, was a poor idea, as it was embellished with many acts of individual heroism. Viral was being loaded into the back of a carriage by Starletts and some other people from Calais. Gogyst was sitting on a barrel surrounded by worried Arcation warriors, insisting that he was fine. The Brotherhood was fully present. Most were either looting the corpses or exchanging war stories. Komplex Sixteen however, looked troubled. I had never seen someone from the Brotherhood look like this in public. 

_"What were those test subjects Linx told me about called? Complexes?"_ I shook my head at the thought. However I did make note to ask Linx about it.

Secret was in one of the more intact wings of the great bank which - like many parts of the wreckage - had been converted to a medical station. It was highly depressing from the point of entry. The great lapis dome had collapsed in on itself in many parts, leaving it to look like a broken eggshell. The wooden stairs and woollen tapestries were burnt up from the fires. The walls had been knocked in in many parts, allowing beams of light to reach through and shine mournfully on the floor. The sky was grey, mixed in with black smoke fumes. Fires were still burning in certain parts of the city and bank. Then the heavens opened, and it began to rain.

Tarpaulins were put up like crude tents to keep the more vulnerable patients warmer. All the while we proceeded to Secret's location. On the way I saw Alec and a few other La Selvan standing over their fallen leader. His leg was turning green in parts and the skin around the wound was caked with blood and cracked stone. We stopped a few minutes to pay our respects.

"So Ozzy, how fares the leg?" I began.

"Not too good. Thankfully talks of amputation are being put off. They think if it does come to that they'll attempt a respawn operation." He responded with an attempt at satisfaction. The doctors could dress it up with all the fancy terms they wanted, a respawn operation was never pleasant. A respawn operation was basically them giving a painkiller to the patient, and testing out a stupid-ass method to kill them painfully. This usually resulted in scarring or weakness upon re-forming.

"I suppose you've got some great stories from the battle?" Said Mini, filling in the space where I could think of little to say.

"Glad you asked. What's your name again? Mini?"

"Precisely. So, tell me what happened with that Golem."

And we left them as Ozzy told his tales of war to Mini and the tribesmen. Down a few more wings, passing a badly beaten Cubsfan, and Scrumping Pup trying to find the café on a very complicated map. Finally we found Secret, Cossack, Bokane and The Order.

Cossack, corpulent as ever, was sitting on a stool beside Secret's bed, clutching a bloody knife and looking shocked, almost in disbelief. Bokane, sitting on the bed to Secret's right, was holding a pork-chop up to one eye and crying silently from the other. Around the bed were the scattered members of the order. On a bed directly across from Secret lay Prippe, right arm in a sling, fingers warped beyond recognition. To his right Killer lay, a large lump on his forehead, Abb at his bedside.

Secret lay on the bed, struggling to breath, body riddled with wounds. Ribs, showed beneath torn-up eggshell armour. His eyes were glassy, and sweat ran down the ridge of his sharp, unbroken nose. The medic came up behind me.

Fluffy Toast was his name. Once he had served as butler of the Brotherhood but changed sides during the Brotherhood-Realm war. Stole much of the Brotherhood's stash of medical apparatus and bombed out most of the rest. Made himself a name as a minor hero that day. Since then he'd been working in the field of medicine; helping to do good in the world.

"In case you're wondering" He sighed gravely. "I don't think he'll walk again; perhaps not even talk. At least, not in this life. I recommen-"

"I know what you'll recommend. I'm loath to perform such an act upon my good friend. To do this would be to gamble with his life in a way unbecoming to all he's done for me, the council, and The Kingdom of Gaia itself!" I interrupted scathingly, turning from him in resentment. Then I realised the error of my ways and turned back to him. He looked thoroughly put out. "I'm sorry Fluff. I'm afraid to do this. I've lost too many friends as of late. Pie; then Tassadar; and sorest of all Astro."

"I understand full well sir. But he needs you to make a tough decision." He was looking me full in the eye, gesturing to the sword at my hip. "Can you make it?"

I drew Amicus. That sword left by Tassadar to Astro in her will; then by Astro to me. For a moment everything flashed before my eyes in reverse. Secret gunned down by the drawbridge. Astro and Mo marching towards the great gates after Dominus, Astro and I's eyes meeting momentarily. Pie lying dead on the table, clasping his sword in one hand and Jolly's whip in the other. Tassadar gutting Ubi and the bridge collapsing beneath her, sending her toppling to her death below. Gerrit being cast into the pit by Epsilon. Celestick getting into that carriage, never to be seen by my eyes again. Blogan falling to the floor, a smoking hole in his crown. Tauto standing over me, surrounded by flames; sword swinging down towards me. All those tragedies... Could I make Secret become one of them?

My eye met his glassy gaze. They were pleading, no, begging for me to end it; one way or another. I swung the sword over my head and down onto his neck. Blood stained the sheets. There was a tense moment when I actually believed he wouldn't reform. Then he began to crumble, bliss flushing over his eyes before they faded into dust. We'd have him back soon. With a sigh of relief I turned to the Order.

"Linx, what are our casualties? I see only six of us? Where's Dawz, Allison and Tejmin?" I inquired.

"Only Prippe and Killer sir. And no, we still haven't figured out how he got there. We assume they captured him in advance Allison has some minor burns and is having them patched up at the moment. Tejmin and Dawz are examining the vault under guard a few Arcation warriors, but they haven't been informed as to what the vault is. I trust it is within our interests now to make this investigation open to other leaders as it plainly has wide-reaching consequences."

"It most certainly is, friend. Open it up. One thing, I need to know what you found out about Overlord. You said you found out something about subjects. Are any alive?" I made it very clear that I wanted no .

"You'd be surprised by who is." He started amusingly. Linx was a former con-artist and loved a bit of theatrics when telling a story. "So, about ten years ago, around the time you and many other refugees of the Great Onslaught arrived, the Realm and its allies started readying for war, in case of attack from the new powers that would inevitably arise. For the most part, research was inconclusive, defective or too damn elaborate for anything but defence. All of a sudden they found something odd; an additive that could potentially create infinite effects for potions. So they called in their best men; Fedwin, the Tinkerer; Gaba Man, renowned redstone engineer and your host last night; and an outsider from the Calais asylum, one of the "Ghosts" as they were known. This outsider became known as Overlord. While he contributed little scientifically, he kept the project running at peak efficiency. Eventually they managed to create some blueprints for formulas. However, they needed people to experiment on, volunteers. So they searched among the populace of the Realm three times over. Not one man volunteered. Then they decided to search outside the Realm. Still nothing. They'd all but given up hope when Overlord showed up with 16 volunteers and a true Golem.  
"Not one of our manufactured ones, a real living Golem; like from the stories. With intelligence to rival the human race. However, these volunteers, can be inferred from some of Overlord's old memos to really be kidnapped refugees."

"Hang on." I interjected. "You got his memo's? Also, I think I remember hearing stories about some bandits going around and kidnapping able looking refugees. No one ever found out what happened to them."

"We didn't get them all, the bomb destroyed some and he was smart enough to encode most of the more sensitive looking pieces of info. But from what we learned they held the subjects in an underground bunker system under heavy guard. Despite decent enough living conditions and food, the subjects were discontent; desperate for freedom. They developed 16 "stable" versions of the formula. The principle of the Overlord serum was that it was a permanent super-potion if you are confused. You're basically invincible. They began to test them out on the subjects, in small doses, and without the additive at first, but they eventually gave them larger doses.  
"With samples from the Golem they developed a sort of living armour that could latch to a being and form and de-form at will. Essentially they can suit up entirely with a thought. The problem was the armour would permanently latch, and the process of attaching was excruciatingly painful. Gaba wanted to develop these further, so as to allow the soldiers choice to give up their armour; and to make it as painless as possible. However, Overlord was evidently not very patient, and wanted to give Dominus a deadline for their work within the next 4 months. He demanded that his colleagues attach the armour to several subjects immediately. Gaba wanted out. He was forcefully removed after attempting to stab Overlord in the eye with a pen, and then had his memory wiped. Fedwin, having been convinced by Overlord that it was a necessary evil, continued in good spirits.  
"A week after attaching the armour to an elect few, leaving jagged scars along the arms, legs, chest and back, Overlord demanded that they give all subjects the formulas with additive. Also, to wipe their memories and re-program them as soldiers of the Realm. Most of the subjects forgot, but there was one who despite no knowledge of why, despised the Realm. However, the formulas gradually displayed side-effects. These were various mental disorders known as Complexes. They didn't reduce them to a coma or anything, simply increased a mental feature to undesirable proportions. The subject that would not forget developed an unquenchable blood-lust. The scientists began to name the different subjects after their Complexes and numbers. Therefore the subject mentioned became Complex 16. He eventually escaped, destroying the base in the process." He finished, staring at me. Wondering what to do.

I walked over to the window, mind in turmoil at what I had heard. So, Overlord was from Calais, but was the Overlord from the story even alive? Was this the same one? Over the years, Calais had splintered into multiple different groups and many members had died as a result of these power struggles.

I looked out the window in the hope of some clarification. That was not the right path. Void's private army had arrived and had gathered a group of Overlord's men. They lined their prisoners up against a wall, and took aim with their polished oak bows. There were a series of thuds, and darkness covered their eyes. Void's men, with their expressionless gas masks, their menacing blue eyes, their polished swords and shields, proceeded to walk among the dead, extinguishing the sparks of life from any who dared so much as twitch. These soulless shadows of men went about their business without word, interruption, or even breath. Void only called them out when he meant business. This was not a good sign.

Then came Void's booming, echoing voice from every angle; announcing his presence. His face was in every reflected surface in sight.

"Will he ever give us some sort of bloody warning! I was contemplating for mods sake!" I shouted, clutching my chest. He'd startled me out of my skin and I was pretty ticked off.

"Terribly sorry Mr Mandy." Void taunted, inspiring chuckles from myself and many others. That had been Astro's nickname for me and it brought about yet another wave of nostalgia. "I would just like to say that we are holding a council of lords."

This brought about a series of gasps and shocked looks. There hadn't been a Council in 9 years. Not since the bombing of the Council chambers, and the dissolution of the original United Blue and Red governments.

"I know what you're all thinking. We don't want another target for these terrorists who have recently sacked the Realm. However, we have taken every precaution to make this one safe. Besides, I'm sure this "Overlord" is simply a pissed off anarchist, with a group of thugs, who between them have only one talent. That talent is stirring up drunkards into a frenzy. I have one thing to say to you Overlord. "Check yo self!" The meeting will take place at the Great Forum in two days. That's all." And so his face flickered out of sight, and his voice faded away.

I turned to face the Council and Order. "Aaron, Small and Cossack. You will accompany me to this Council. Bokane, Abby and Mini, wait for Secret to reform, then take most of the Order and our wounded back to the Kingdom. There you will devote our resources to the Overlord case. Dawz and Tejmin will come with myself and my entourage to the Council. After the Council meeting, we will all gather in the palace for tea, scones, and pumpkin pie. Not the cheap guff we usually have, the vintage stuff; from Pie's old stash. After that, we assemble whatever evidence we've gathered and see what comes together. You have your orders. Follow them! Chop Chop!"

And so they set about carrying out my orders, leaving me to ponder the mystery of Overlord.


	4. A Council Interrupted

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As Void holds a conference on recent events concerning Dominus' exodus and the assault on the Citadel, the Overlord takes the opportunity to make his presence known.

**Day 5: A gathering of leaders**  
  
 _"Where is Void? He was supposed to be here an hour ago."_ I thought to myself irritably. _"I'd best find out who's here while I wait."_ I looked around at the Assorted crowd, just about every group on VC was there. From Williamsburg, to Arcation, to the Brotherhood. Not a leader was missing. Even some of the former kings of the Realm present.  
  
I may as well address those who were there specifically. First off there were the knights of Vangaard, the centre of culture and beauty in the Red Zone. They were led by Wolves Glare, one of the finest warriors to ever set foot in this land. It is said that once he slew a Wither with little else but two potatoes, a bow with no string, a tattered old tie and four grams of gunpowder. At his side he held that deceptively cheap-looking sword "Mourning Wood", at the edge of which many men had fallen.  
  
Then there were the representatives of the Legion; once the heart of military Red Zone, the official army of the United Red Government. Since its dissolution and their subsequent loss in Palmer's War against the Realm, they had entered a period of sharp decline. A few years ago Palmer had resigned the leadership and Ruary, a younger but no less able commander, had got it back on its feet, stronger than ever. With their crimson cloaks, and black steel armour they looked like something out of legend. Sadly, this unstoppable appearance hadn't help them when I struck last. I allowed myself a moment's smirking, before succumbing to remorse at the memory of that one brief second when I became that which I hated most.

Ruary himself was a tall man, a full three inches taller than myself, with well-built, sturdy shoulders, yet a narrow figure and gaunt face. Those eyes of deep blue were etched with sorrow and war. Yet he was otherwise a cheerful enough man, with a laid-back attitude and relaxed posture. Nothing like he was in the field.  
  
Ray Tunes and Knight Prodigy of Williamsburg were also there alongside several other delegates. I couldn't say I was pleased to see them. There was a time when the Williamsburg Protectorate and Gaia's domain had been friends. Then, Ray had refused to join us at the Nether Highway at Dominus' urging, which created a rift between he and Peter. After that, Tassadar, Ray's adopted daughter, had fallen in the battle itself and he had blamed me, as Peter's successor. Next, squabbles over her will had all but destroyed relations between Ray and the rest of the Council. And finally, the uprising at the Great Forum two months prior had made a personal rift political - insitutionalised the tension. For a second Ray and I's eyes met, then we both looked away in disdain.  
  
Atreidon of the Brotherhood stood alone along the edge of the Forum. He had been apart from The Brotherhood for quite a time now, living in an old tower where he and his late wife Amaerin had once lived. It had fallen into some disrepair, and he had followed suit. He clasped that spear which had once been his mod staff; when he was still Mad Dog. His round, leathery face was framed with the straggly dark hair, hanging from beneath his helmet. His light blue armour was dirtied, as were his skin, shield and spear. Despite this appearance of mourning, he was still an Archangel, and I had seen him die, then rise from his own ashes at the Nether Highway. I was lucky to still be alive.   
  
Gogyst, Vacar, Walkers, Shadows and Besta of Arcation stood in the centre. All were dressed in their traditional diamond plating, all masked except Gogyst. He wore no helm or mask; just his hood, which cast unnaturally dark shadows over his face, rendering it invisible. On his chest blazed the mark of Arcation. Over his back he had a mighty great-sword. However, this was far from his most terrifying feature. His spear, like Atreidon's had once been a mod's staff, long since stripped of its magic. However, Gogyst had tinkered with it for a long time and managed to make it into a mass of tricks, traps hidden weapons and explosives. I had seen it in battle but once, and would forever sit in awe and terror of the art with which he used it. I thanked Notch that he was on our side.  
  
Then there were Ozzy and Alec of La Selva, fully recovered and looking most conspicuous indeed. They were dressed in lime green suits over white shirts, with the collars of their coats encrusted with shattered emeralds. On their heads they wore lime green bowler hats, and on their hands they wore gloves of bright white. This combined with the canes hung over their forearms to make them look like something from a cartoon in a newsheet. I thought that they had lost it for a brief moment. Then I noticed the bulge of a breastplate from beneath the shirts, and a crack where the handle of the cane met the shaft. In this crack I saw the glint of an emerald green blade. I smiled; Ozzy had always believed that the most subtle things were the most eye-catching.  
  
Then there were the great, iron-loving librarian pirates of Woobly. I must admit I believed many of them to have perished at the end of the Brotherhood-Realm war. You see, after Woobly bombed the Realm's capital and brought the conflict to an abrupt half, they invoked the full hatred of both Brotherhood and Realm soldiers alike. Not to mention the fact that the librarian pirates had gathered dirt on just about everyone in the land. Therefore the Brotherhood convinced the Realm to lend them some explosives for their journey back, in order to exact vengeance. What they got were three "Bunker-Breakers". R7K special weaponry that could do exactly as the title suggests. Thus as the Brotherhood and her allies marched by the Woobly Pyramid, they fired the missiles at the them. Not a single man, animal, nor Golem survived. Or so we thought, about six months ago Woobly had reared it's rubble-coated head again, wilder than ever.  
  
On the edge of the crowd, already seated at their booths in the various layers (this segment of the Forum having been constructed to take the shape of circular amphitheatre) were the Ghosts of Calais, the alumni of that once great city-state. Starletts was looking most smugly at Ray Tunes, who in turn looked uncharacteristically unsettled. It was an "I-know-something-that-will-get-you-into-massive-trouble-but-you-don't-know-what-it-is-yet" sort of look. I took note of it. It could be significant. Ever since Ray and Dom's exchange at their parting, I had had Ray followed everywhere. He was rarely without a stalker from the Order. And when he was without one of us watching him, there was a subcontracted mercenary doing the job for us. Also among the Ghosts was, Viral, looking very sane indeed, sipping tea and making pleasant conversation with that silken tongue of his.  
  
Alas, there were the most menacing looking of all; The Brotherhood of the Try Hard Pants. Five of them stood there, weapons sheathed but never moving their hands off the hilts. First there was Jolly, with his Mask made to resemble a slime, his whip of fire, and his necklace of rings taken from fallen enemies. It had been significantly shortened since Pie slew him in that battle but he had recovered quickly. Then there was Tauto, with his helmet adorned with gold, and lapis, and redstone; with his sword in the scabbard on his left, knife in the scabbard to his right; just as I fought. Tauto however, had an added boost to his lethality. The gauntlet with which he held the knife could channel lightning through it at will, likely to end any it touched. Then there was Ubi, wearing a hood made of diamond threads and turtle mask. He had slotted his chakrams into his wrist-plates where they could be used as shields, but also be grabbed and used as weapons at any time. Little was known of him other than his previous leadership of The Azure Tribe; who had long since faded out of public knowledge. Then came the surprise; Bottany, the hawk-eyed. Bottany was known even less than Ubi, and was still widely thought, like Woobly, to have perished in the great war. Even to those of us who had seen Bottany alive since then were taken aback by his sudden appearance. Lastly there was Komplex, armour emblazoned with the Brotherhood's crest and his two swords slung over his back.  
  
Also there were The Kingdom's newest allies, Waltco and The Blue Alliance. Of Waltco there was just Walt alone. He was an up-and-coming young businessman with a quick wit, silken tongue, and a way with a bow. I had found him in the slums surrounding the Forum, the so-called "Starter Zone" where immigrants waited for visas before moving on an, and he had already set up an impressive bakery. I had managed to convince him to come to Gaia with me and get customers who could properly pay, as well as get funding to expand elsewhere. Since then he had founded the town of Walthampton and off the back of it had paid for himself ten times over and I was proud to call him friend. He had also become a guest military advisor on the Council for his experience in the Divine Army the Great Onslaught; even though we'd fought on opposing sides.  
  
Then there was Key G. Persson, a short, thin man, in a tattered suit and fedora, with a permanent look of cunning in his eyes. He had been fighting a guerilla war against the Brotherhood since Dominus first signed a "security contract" with the Brotherhood and left all his neighbours at their mercy. About three years ago the Brothers found his base and raided relentlessly. His Blue Alliance, already a small and poorly-equipped force, took heavy casualties and was forced to disperse. However, not too long ago Commander Persson had resurfaced and I was the first to track him down and make a deal. His demands had been fairly simple - shelter, armour, a brigade under his command and Tejmin's appointment to the Order of Gaia. So far, it had worked swimmingly and the Blue Alliance's guerrilla experience had proven invaluable in slowing the Brotherhood's advance on the Nether Highway. Now, Commander Key G. Persson stood with two thugs flanking him, looking ready for a fight. I'd never asked him if Persson was an affectation, or whether he genuinely was related to the ruling family of the True Court of Mojang.   
  
Also there were Boston and the other leaders of shining Concordis. The brothers Pi and Mj of Voidland, a nation founded from defectors from Gaia and the Legion which worshipped the eponymous administrator, were also present. Despite their defection, we were on cordial terms, and I waved to Pi.   
  
Then Ryan came running forwards into the central platform and began to speak. "Be seated, for the magnificent Lord Void comes forth to address us." He then hopped down from the platform and took his place in the eleven chairs surrounding Void's podium.  
  
I walked through the crowd, looking for the Gaian booth. Sitting there were Aaron, Cossack and Small; drinking and joking among themselves. Dawz and Tej were standing, straining themselves to see over the crowd, presumably looking for me. These two, uncharacteristically for the Order, were both foreigners like myself, and easily the best soldiers in its ranks aside from Linx himself. In fact, none of those with me were native Gaians. Small had some relation on his mother's side, but aside from that we were all a collection of refugees and mercenaries, legitimised first by Peter, then by myself. We'd come a long way!

"Hail Gaians!" I shouted, beaming from ear to ear. "How goes the watch?"  
  
"Oh cut the rubbish Kay! Come sit my old friend." Retorted Aaron with his customary ear-to-ear grin. He then pulled out a mug and began pouring some strange brew of his. "Do have some mead. We may as well enjoy ourselves while we're here."  
  
"Here-Here!" Coughed Small, choking on his drink.  
  
"Fine, I'll take your mead. But don't allow yourselves to get completely smashed as you did at Gaba's. We must be vigilant this night. Keep your weapons within reach. Especially you Aaron. Without Secret we lack an archer, you are the only one who can match him from among us." I responded, keeping my tone as casual as possible."  
  
Aaron, maintaining his grin, gestured to me to come closer and whispered in my ear. "They're surrounding the Forum. Void's Guards. He's not allowing any room for error tonight."  
  
I looked up to see that they had locked their shields and were forming a sort of wall around the Forum. Just peaking over their lines you just could make out the roofs of some moderators' houses and the Great tree of Gaia, standing proud against the skyline. It was a sight of beauty over that wall of men. Then the other ten mods (Epsilon, Viking, Cubs, Rage, Gorbanth, Ludio, Splorer, Celtic, Onyx and Yamada) came out, taking their seats around the platform, for us to see Void materialise out of thin air into the centre of it. _"Never could resist a chance for a grand entrance."_ I thought.  
  
"Hello my friends!" He began, arousing a round of applause. "Some of you may have heard the rumours. Rumours of a strange terrorist in a mask who has gone around encouraging the commoners to rebel, and collecting the old weapons of Fedwin. Rumours of an old project started by the Realm during the War. Rumours of the sacking of the Realm. I can confirm all of these I'll tell you one you haven't heard. Overlord just stole Fedwin." He allowed this to sink in for a moment, and for the mutterings of the Clans to silence. "That is right my friends. The tinkerer has been kidnapped by Overlord. That is why we were delayed. However, before I address the Overlord situation. I have potentially darker news."  
  
A battered looking, hunched man, in dented diamond armour that was stained with the marks of battle, limped up to the platform. All of a sudden I realised this to be King Legend. This could not be good if he returned looking like this. _"What had happened? Was my Vision coming True? Was Astro okay?"_ was all that could come to my panicked mind. Then he open his mouth and spoke in a hoarse, raspy voice, coughing frequently.  
  
"Hello people of Vanilla Craft. I come here with news of Dominus and the others. I can safely say that things have taken a dark turn indeed. Dominus has gathered many of our old outlaws. Ace! Peanut! Huskers! Mini Muffin and Eric Blood Axe! And many others! However, I could live with the gathering of these, as I believed some of their innocences and of turning the other cheek. Dominus has gone beyond the point of rallying outlaws. He has unleashed Zerg! Who in turn has raised an army of automatons, and shades of the dead. Not just dead players, no. Of fallen moderators also!" This started utter pandemonium which took ten minutes to calm. After this was done Legend continued. "Myself and Jared, with the aid of Wise One; confronted Dominus and attempted to slay Zerg once and for all. Our armies were slaughtered. Jared and myself were the only survivors. He lies in a medical bay now with a knife in his ribs. I estimate that it will take them three months to organise their forces for a siege. However, even then there are the great gates which keep them from entering. The smaller passages in are easily collapsed or defended so the land is virtually invulnerable as long as the gates hold. I believe that they intend to destroy the wall earlier. Overlord may be connected to this effort."  
  
In the panic that ensued no one noticed someone from the dimly lit table of the Ghosts walk into one of the service tunnels or the two strange hooded figures who waited for him. All eyes were on Void; pleading for a course of action. He seemed almost as taken aback as the rest of us, giving Ryan a "Did you know about this?" sort of look. Epsilon then, deciding that no one was going to calm down any time soon and yelled "QUIET!". This gave me a few seconds to assess my thoughts. _"Shit! My vision is coming true! What is Astro doing? He's normally in the thick of these things. Did he perish with Legend and Jared's armies? Or is he even still with them? Where the hell did I leave my coat? Was that even a real doorman? Everyone else who wore a coat seems to still have their's? Oh god that man was a thief wasn't he! That was my best coat! Overlord sucks. Oh yes, the wall. Oh dear we'd best start thinking about that."_ came my scattered, random thoughts.  
  
Void began to speak again, his tone filled with forced unwilling uncertainty. "First off, Dominus can batter those walls all he likes. There's no way of getting through those walls. Herobrine himself couldn't shatter them ten long years ago.  
As for Overlord; we've known of Overlord for about a month now. But we believe he's been in operation as a terrorist for longer. Last month he occupied the starter zone city known as "Vanilla City" for three days. We went in to storm the city and he, nor any of this private army of his were anywhere to be found. However there was a sharp decrease in people. He has done multiple smaller operations of occupying shanty towns, gathering men and leaving since then. Just two nights ago he sacked R7K's Capitol and laid siege to the citadel. It was foolish of us not to warn of him before. But we are taking measure to catch him as we speak.

  
For one, we know that he is or was a member of The Ghosts of Calais. We also know he wears a blank mask of quartz associated with criminal syndicates from the Old Continent. So if you see a mask similar to that... Yeah... um... tell us. I know to go on!" Void quickly interjected, hearing the boos of many dissatisfied leaders. "However, we can hunt him down. We already have a list of suspects. They are as follow-" That's when he interjected.  
  
"Sorry Void, I don't believe I can allow you to do that." Came Overlord's mocking voice, his face appearing in every surface suddenly, then vanishing just as quickly as it had arrived.  
  
It came from nowhere. A missile struck the Williamsburg booth, sending Ray and knight flying as the flames consumed their comrades. The duo lay strewn out on the stairs leading up to the edge. Then another came down on the edge, smashing the seemingly impenetrable lines of the guards as if they were but an eggshell. Then another struck the tree of Gaia, cutting through the leaves into the trading hut. One flew at Void's platform, but he simply raised a hand and it stopped, and he threw it into the nearby lake with just a flick of his wrist. Then a missile struck just behind our booth, sending us flying. Each ball of flame kicked up more rubble and dirt, and created a larger crater than the last. At last the rain of fire stopped.  
  
I lay on the ground, my diamond armour sullied and dented from the explosion. I crawled to my feet, straining even to see. When I got up I saw Small dragging Cossack, who's leg was twisted out of place, towards the safety of the service tunnels. Dawz and Tej were helping Aaron to stand up. I ran up to them.  
  
"What was that?" demanded Tejmin desperately.  
  
"My guess," began Aaron gruffly, cutting across me before I could begin. "Overlord's spoils from the citadel."  
  
"Must say I agree." Said Small, who was approaching us; having left Cossack in a cupboard, safely out of harm's way. "This sort of fire-power could only be a Fedwin invention. Now they have him held hostage. "  
  
We all drew weapons, and stood in a circle ready for battle. The hordes poured into the basin. At their head was Overlord's honor guard. Overlord himself was wearing his mask, a travelling cloak and a brilliant white gauntlet. To his right was the Golem, showing no wounds from our last encounter. There would have been over 3000 of them in the square had Void not acted quickly. Thankfully we had but 300 to deal with.  
  
He raised his now luminous staff high above his head, arms shaking under an invisible weight. All of a sudden the ground around the top of the Forum began to raise into the great circular wall, some ten metres high. He looked at Ryan, Celtic, Onyx and Epsilon and they shimmered out of sight. They appeared on top of the wall just a split-second later, blasting down any who dared to attempt the climb.  
  
Of all the warriors who fought that day Arcation proved themselves mightiest. Vacar cutting down men with that flaming sword of his like a farmer cutting down wheat, reaping in the harvest. Besta with his Bow, and Walkers with his great shield, like a brick wall. Besta would stand to fire an arrow, felling a man, and then Walkers would raised the shield and prevent the hail of arrows that came for his comrade from finding flesh. Then there was Shadows, swinging his axe, every which way, leaving a trail of body parts and death as he pushed forwards. Then Gogyst, with his spear of tricks, was thrusting it at any he could, often blasting fire or some hidden poison-tipped needle from a hidden hatch in the shaft.  
  
In the centre, the remaining mods, the legionnaires and the knights of Vangaard were struggling to hold off the onslaught of the Golem. They would have fallen there and then had Wolves, Ruary and Komplex not set seen through the chaos and rushed the Golem, attacking from each side, distracting it in any way they could. Alec and Ozzy quickly joined them, harassing the Golem with their bows. Small looked quickly for approval to break off from the group of TKG members and her allies that were attempting to battle part of Overlord's honour guard. I nodded approvingly and he was off, hacking at the Golem's legs with his little knife.  
  
We were able to force back the small group of elite soldiers quite easily. We then turned our attention to the centre. By we I mean the TKG delegation (minus Small), Walt and a few hired swords of his, Pi and MJ, and Mr. Persson and his thugs. In the centre Atreidon and Cubs were standing by Void, who was lying on the floor unconscious. Overlord and the main body of his honour guard were advancing fast. Viking and Ludio stood in their way but was soon overwhelmed by their sheer strength of numbers. Atreidon Hurled his spear at a guard coming onto the platform, striking him just above the nipple, drawing much blood. He then lunged at his foe, tackling him and a man just to his right, toppling off of the platform.  
  
Overlord set his iron boot upon the quartz platform with a sickening clang. He, flanked by his guard walked slowly towards Void. Cubs stepped resolutely between them, creating a barrier between them. Overlord spoke, voice muffled from the solid quartz of the mask. "Do step aside boy, you'll make a fool of yourself." This caused his men to chuckle at the sight of a relatively weak-looking young man with a metal rod and cloak standing between them and Void. There was a tense moment of silence, then Overlords men rushed forwards to be met with Cubs full fury. He crushed necks to dust with his staff, threw men farther than thought to be possible, he drew their blood with his short-sword.  
  
We noticed that Cubs would eventually be overrun and prepared action. Aaron and Walt nocked arrows and began to pick off the men who advanced on the platform from small vantage points on the abandoned booths nearby. Pie Thingey and MJ ran around the side, hoping to sneak up on Overlord. Walt's mercenaries joined Key, his thugs and the two Gaian warriors, Dawz and Tej. I ran with them, hoping to spill some of Overlord's blood myself.  
  
Then, as we got within ten metres, Overlord stepped towards Cubs. "I grow tired of these games." He began, boredom turning to malice in his voice. "It is time for the main event." He threw back his cloak to reveal his gauntlet of quartz. He reached outwards and the light in the middle of the palm glowed, and the staff flew from Cubs's grasp into Overlord's outstretched hand; to be crudely cast aside. As Cubs gaped in shock a ball of lightning formed in Overlord's palm, which he threw at the dumbstruck mod, blasting him aside like a dandelion petal in the wind.  
  
Key rushed at Overlord with his men, striking down a spear-wielding guard as they went. Overlord's quartz plated fingers merged together into a mighty blade and he cut down both of Key's guards before reverting it to its normal stand and blasting Key apart. Then came Pie and Mj, fighting through the crowd with their knives. Mj swung at Overlord's head, but he ducked under the blow, throwing an uppercut into Mj's throat. Mj spluttered blood and crumbled into dust as the gauntlet collided with his throat, reducing bone to powder. Pie, angered at the demise of his brother, rushed at Overlord, swinging his knife at Overlords unprotected arm. The knife cut through and left a jagged welt on Overlords fore-arm. This however angered the madman. He drew a Baby Jesus with his wounded arm and shot Pie in the hip. He crumpled to the floor, clutching his hip where a ragged wound surrounded by burn-marks showed.  
  
Dawz and Tej rushed forward. Dawz first shot a Guard in the nape of the neck with his bow and then tackled Overlord. Tej ran forward and began to carry the wounded Pie from battle, beating back the attackers with his combat knife. Dawz and Overlord continued to grapple until Overlord punched Dawz in the gut, and pushed the winded warrior back. Dawz tried to shoot again but his foe simply batted it from his grip. Dawz tried to recover by swinging his knife at Overlord. However he countered with his gauntlet and clasped Dawz's head, frying it with a ball of lightning. Tej, in a fit of rage, charged at Overlord but was run through with that great white blade; promptly crumbling to dust.  
  
Then, with Walt covering us, Aaron and I readied our weapons and rushed at him. Breaking through the line of guards that was forming around Overlord and the still unconscious Void we used a tradition high-low tactic. Aaron would hack his axe at the legs and I would cut through his neck with Amicus. However, Overlord somersaulted over us both, landing behind us. He then hurled a ball of lightning at me, which I just barely dodged, losing balance as that warm, blue flash flew past my left ear. Aaron swung at his gauntleted arm, but was blocked with a ringing clang that kicked up a shower of sparks. The axe began to splinter and Aaron recoiled in shock. In this moment of dismay Overlord clouted him around the head, leaving him unconscious.  
  
I rushed at him to defend Aaron, but after having Amicus wrenched from my hand, I was felled also. I lay face-down on the cold, hard, smooth ground, facing the Overlord as he finally continued his advance on Void. He stood over our fallen leader, now grabbing him, lifting him by the scruff of his neck with his bare hand holding the gauntlet close to Void's face, illuminating it with a pale blue light. I could swear I saw him smirk as he prepared to blast Void from the face of this earth.  
  
He would have done so if it weren't for Viking, who had broken free from an engagement from some particularly ferocious men and their hounds who wished to test their metal against a moderator. How foolish they had been to challenge this slayer of men, this champion of Void's. He who Void himself had chosen to battle the Ender dragon whenever it reformed, keeping it from breaking free from it's prison. Viking saw his master being readied for slaughter and pulled his bloodstained javelin from his back. He threw that javelin with all his strength, sending it soaring across the starry sky, heading for his master's assailant. It sadly fell short, and struck Overlord on the collarbone of his gauntleted arm, saving Viking's master but failing to end the menace. Overlord fell to the ground quite helpless, blood spilling onto the white platform as he tried to yank the diamond tipped projectile from his shoulder. Viking, cursing under his breath, drew his blade and charged forwards.  
  
At this moment the Golem witnessed its fallen master helpless on the platform, and broke free from his struggle, batting Komplex aside like he was a fly and shaking the warriors of La Selva off of its mighty shoulders. Then, kicking Small aside, ran towards Overlord, firing bullet after bullet at Viking, and any other who should oppose him. Viking was forced to take cover behind some rubble as the Golem's shells tore up the ground. Keeping up the rain of death the Golem ran up to its master, yanked out the spear with it's talon like fingers and threw him over its shoulder. It then turned tail and fled back up to the edge of the Forum, to a crack in Void's wall; a three soldiers of Overlord's honour guard accompanying it.  
  
I pulled myself to my feet and looked around. Those around me were either fighting or unconscious or tending to their wounded. Aaron lay on the ground, a great bruise forming on his unconscious face. Viking was tending to Void, evidently not willing to leave his master's side. The other mods were locked in combat. Cossack had broken free from his supply cupboard with a bucket upon his head, supported by a mop, lashing out with a rake yelling _"THE PINK SHEEP ARE COMING!"_. Only Walt came rushing to me, bow in hand. "Kay, what should we do? Are you all right?" He asked, tone frantic.  
  
"I think I'm okay my friend. As for what we do..." I looked up to see two hooded figures, surrounded by some eight bodyguards and clasping Perks in their hands awaiting the Golem as it climbed the great stone stairs. Then there was the part that really caught my attention. Prodigy, was crawling up the steps and preparing to attack; looking badly burned. I took a glance at the Williamsburg table. Ray was burnt to a crisp and quite plainly dead. The Golem reached the rim of the Forum, and with its entourage, and marched in the direction of the Pit of Banishment. That's when Prodigy appeared to curse, pull out a small blue gem, and threw it. It crashed onto the roof of one of the nearby moderator houses, and with a puff of smoke he materialised on top of the roof. Once he had straightened up he continued to sneak along after the entourage.  
  
Walt pulled out one of these Ender Pearls himself. "Shall we go?" He asked, testing my thirst for adventure. For a moment, I was almost crazy enough to refuse; but the delusion that I could stay out of this left me immediately. Besides, Astro would have never forgiven me for letting Tass's bloodline die out without a fight.  
  
"Fine, lets make this quick. Try to keep the fighting to a minimal please I've just received a bloody hard blow to the head and I'm not my usual nimble self."  
  
Walt grinned and put his arm , "Of course my friend. I'll be stealthy. Hold on!" And he lobbed the pearl at the same roof Prodigy had landed on. However, it fell short and smashed off the wall and we began to tumble to the ground. Thankfully our fall was cushioned by the fabric roof of a fish merchant's stall.  
  
I sat up slowly and groggily, head spinning, not sure what to expect. I saw Prodigy jumped down into the entourage, holding a Perk in his left hand, a sword in the right. First he fired two shots at Overlord, who still hung over the Golem's shoulder. The shots missed and ricocheted off the Golem's metal skin. In an effort to protect its master the it fled past the pit of banishment. Then he drew held his sword aloft and began to fight like an animal. No method was beneath him. He slashed; he shot; he lashed out with his limbs; he crushed skull under his diamond boots; I'm pretty sure he even sunk his teeth into one of them. He fought valiantly but alas it was not enough. He was surrounded by the remaining six guards and one of the hooded figures. The other hooded figure, the shorter and stouter of the two, simply leaned back by the edge of the Pit and watched, seemingly amused.  
  
The hooded figure amidst Prodigy's attacker was wearing a dark blue cloak and hood, underneath which was a black painted set of diamond armour in the Gaian fashion, but with dark twists. The tree chiselled onto the chest appeared burned and withered, and was painted in blood red. The shoulder-pads had strange, claw-like spikes coming from beneath them, like a demon were holding them in the palm of each hand. The same was true of the knee-pads and the elbow-guards. Their face was as invisible as Gogyst's, perhaps even more so.  
  
It spoke with a cold, cutting, spine-chilling feminine voice that rasped on every "S" and rolled every "R", "Kill him, my servants." The attackers raised their swords high over their heads and got ready to end Prodigy. They would have there and then had Walt not shaken himself from stupor and struck a guard in the temple with an arrow. This distracted them from the execution long enough for Prodigy to break free  
  
I reacted soon after, charging at them like a bull at a matador; firing my Perk wildly, striking a man thrice and knocking him flat on the cobbled street. Prodigy, acting on our distraction rushed at the shorter hooded figure. He pinned the figure to the wall of the pit, holding his head over the soul-sucking darkness of the Pit, whispers of remorse and madness coming from the punished somewhere in that endless darkness. Prodigy then threw back the dark blue hood of the man, revealing a shadowed face from which I couldn't make out any features.  
  
Prodigy however, looked shocked; horrified even. In this moment of shock, the hooded woman pulled out a Perk and shot prodigy twice. Once to the neck, one to the leg. He crumpled onto the floor, gasping for air like a fish that had just been plucked from the sea, awaiting death shortly. The shorter figure then kicked him in the gut and ran off, noticing the large number of Void's men who had come from nowhere. The others followed him shortly. Walt and I ran over to the fallen Prodigy, kneeling over him.  
  
"I'll get a medic." Panted Walt.  
  
"You do that." I replied, dazed, lost for words. I had failed Astro, Tass's line had ended. I could not feel more guilty. "I'm sorry." I said weakly, choking back tears of rage and grief. "I-I w-will end them... I will a-avenge you!"  
  
Then Prodigy spoke gravely, fading in and out as he choked on his own blood. "Weep not... King of men... friend... More to this... There is more to th-this than you think..."  
  
"What Prodigy? What more is there?" I asked, most disturbed by this sudden serious talk from him. I had never heard him speak like this before.  
  
"No time... Warn... he will... deceived... he will be deceived..." Then his voice trailed off. He coughed up some more blood. Then his eyes glazed over, and shut for the last time. [i"]Funny,"[/i] I thought standing up, _"If it weren't for the blood flowing from his mouth and back, you could swear he was sleeping."_


	5. Ultimatum

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Three weeks after the attack on the Forum, Overlord issues his final set of demands.

I walked down the wide hallway, diamond boots clanging off of the iron grill beneath my feet. It was a roughly built bunker, with iron supports and walkways holding it up, and walls of smoothed stone. It was dimly lit by the flickering redstone lamps overhead. _"Why they want me down in this pit constantly instead of up there, living luxuriously in the palace. As is my right, this land is mine. Void has no claim to it. No! He is but Qustom's advocate. Chosen by Qustom with only the intention of slighting me! Besides, if we conquered this, "Aegis", we may as well take advantage of it..._ My thoughts trailed off into a series of insults directed towards those two.  
  
The fact that they were so key to my revolution made them all the more insulting. Without them I never would have been able to take up the mask, and begin this glorious revolt of the working class against the bourgeois, and the autocracy of Qustom, carried on by Void. Soon, Fedwin would have completed his job. Fedwin, he'd always been a good friend to me, and was of exceptional usefulness. I almost felt bad keeping him in chains while he worked, and of his poor treatment. He had all that he needed to finish the job. The show would happen in just a week. Today was the opening act. Disposing of the waste.  
  
The great steel doors swung open in front of me, squeaking as they did so. I shielded my eyes from the sudden burst of light from the studio. We had to keep it well lit for my public messages, which we did every 24 hours now. We figured it was a good way of asserting our dominance over the server. Doing something that only Void could previously do.  
  
I walked over to the usual set. A throne of quartz in a black, well lit throne room with a floor covered in red wool. Strangely absent was my Golem, Antioch. He was always positioned there. I had always thought it was rather unbecoming for him to always be positioned there. The last of his kind, made into a set-piece at best, a cheap mascot at worst. Then I noticed it.  
  
"Where in Jeb's name are the camera crew? I thought we were disposing of the prisoners today?" Came my rumbling voice.  
  
"Williams says they're filming by the waterfall today, boss." Said a young guard called Nathan; rather tersely if I might add.  
  
"Well they haven't told me!" I angrily replied, gripping him by his shirt and holding the gauntlet up to his face. "And you answer to me, not to Williams. "  
  
"I'm s-sorry sir. I won't s-show such disrespect again." He stammered, cringing at the sight of the gauntlet that had slain so many. Then I threw him to the floor, causing him to slide across the polished metal floor. He turned and began to crawl away. "T-thank you master... F-for being mercifu-" He didn't even see to ball of lightning coming. 

"Next time," I order to the remaining guards. "I am to be informed on arrival in the room of any changes. Preferably before. As you were."

I regretted the waste of life, but sometimes a statement was needed. I was to be their administrator. My two associates were not to be 

A walk of 10 minutes up into the mountains brought me to the waterfall. It was a warehouse like room, cut off halfway through by a jutting piece of rock, opening onto a heavy waterfall. By the waterfall were four mods; all bound and gagged, with a total of six armed guards in diamond kit around them. By the camera was the Fat One, who insisted that I called him "Williams". I had no idea who he was, or what he really wanted, but despite all he and his colleague had done for me, I would end them as soon as possible. I despised them, with his all-seeing eyes and cold, calculating mind; despised her ruthless anger and cruelty. All the more worrying was the fact that she was just as cool-headed as Williams. She was called "Falcon".  
  
Falcon, was standing in the corner, glaring at me from beneath her hood. _" she's creepy..."_ I thought to myself. Beside the prisoners was Antioch, looking most indignant. He had not had a good time as of late, not having engaged in what he viewed as a proper battle in over a week, since we hunted down and slaughtered what remained of the Azure Tribe. Since then he'd mostly been in these daily updates. His indignation was all the more because of the slaughter a few days ago.  
  
He and Falcon had been guarding a convoy that was en route to the Red Border. Nothing special was in it; just a bit of weaponry, armour and food, as well as about 250 new recruits. As they were passing through Frontline City they were ambushed. However it was not the usual sort of ambush by the Brotherhood, Legion, The Void or Vangaard. The only way the surviving officer could describe it was "the fires of the Nether broken loose". They had been gunned down in swathes by a party of 50 or so Gaian raiders (who had positioned themselves inside the various buildings surrounding the convoy) with what appeared to be long range Perks. Only half of our men made it out alive, and most of the supplies were lost. The only casualties we could confirm the enemy had sustained were a party of legionnaires who intervened and tried to take advantage of the retreat. Antioch had been powerless to do anything but watch as his men were slaughtered, and he had taken his fury out on these interlopers. Robot though he was, he had a way of letting emotions get the better of him.  
  
I walked over to the camera crew, shot Williams a glare and inquired. "As we rehearsed?"  
  
"A few new lines," He responded in his usual sour fashion. "Mostly to do with the mods but also about our ultimatum. Best look over it quickly."  
  
He tossed me a copy of the script and walked over beside Falcon. A few minutes of script reading later I walked in front of the moderators. There was the traditional countdown from 5 and then we began, spreading our message across the whole server.  
  
"Good evening my subjects." I began, as calmly, as I could, changing from malice to kindness as I went along. "You may have noticed that since the battle for the Forum a few of your _Beloved_ Moderators have gone missing. Void hasn't addressed this issue I am sure. Why? Because it would damage the image he portrays to you. Of **HIS** invincible crew of bodyguards!  
  
"I say to you today my people. These are far from invincible; and they should not be Void's personal playthings. NO! They are meant to be **your** protectors, who defend us from black magic and mushroom trolls. However, because Void uses them as tools, that does not mean they are any less guilty themselves. They themselves are lazy, useless, and corrupt! They embody everything that is wrong with this system!  
  
"I have held them hostage out of good will up until now. However, a few days ago, about 150 innocent men and 50 soldiers, were murdered ruthlessly. Simple traders and farmers with no intention of joining the fighting, simply of being allowed to move safely through the frontlines and set up their new home under the protection of our troops.  
  
"They were gunned down mercilessly by those we thought to be pure in all of this. The Gaians, the new power, who we once thought to be simply misled by Void in their early days; tempted by his lies. Now we know their true face. They and their King, this Kay Mandy, betray their own cause by defending the Brotherhood, those who they fought for so long.  
  
"In retribution, three of these men will die." I gestured to the captive moderators kneeling beside me. "The moderators in question are as follows; Ludio; Celtic; Splorer; and Onyx. They are lined up in that order. I figured I'd play a little game to decide who shall live."  
  
I flicked my wrist, causing the Perk to spring into my palm. "In my hand I have a Brotherhood invention, a Baby Jesus Perk. I believe it is only fair that the corrupt be slain by the product of those who corrupted them. There are four bullets in a Perk that can be fired without reloading. Three of these are loaded, one is blank. After being shot they will be thrown out into the waterfall behind me, to make sure they are dead. The remaining one will be held as insurance until you do as I ask Void.  
  
"But, that's a topic for later. Now, for their reckoning. First up, LUDIO!"  
  
I walked up to the old ship master, the canal builder. In the weeks of his captivity he had grown an uneven beard, and his long grey hair was matted with filth. His white prison shirt was completely caked with blood, vomit, dirt, and just about everything else you find in a prison cell. He looked up at me with those once warm, brown eyes; now turned broken and bloodshot.  
  
"May Notch have mercy on your soul." I whispered. There was a bang, and he crumpled in a heap, before being grabbed by Antioch, and thrown into the waterfall. "Now, Celtic. You've been a very naughty boy haven't you. Was it not you who felled the gates of the Realm that day and allowed the Brotherhood access that day?" This was utter rubbish but it was best to throw some uncertainty about heroes such as him before killing them. He remained silent, giving me a confused, disbelieving kind of look.  
  
"Not talking eh? Well then, may you find peace among Herobrine's legions of the damned." I squeezed the trigger and prepared to see him crumple. However he moved at the last moment; and dodged to the left. He then broke free from his bonds and brandished the tiny piece of flint he had used to cut loose, and the bloody welts on his palms. Taking advantage of my dismay he boxed me on the ear, knocking me to the floor.  
  
Celtic then proceeded to stab a guard in the throat and throw another to the uneven floor of the waterfall's mouth. He was about to finish him off when my bullet pierced his throat. He rolled off the guard, and then, seeing the other guards closing in, he rolled into the waterfall, never to be seen again.  
  
"A noble death ladies and gentlemen. However, removing himself from this earth, as honourable a feat as it is, will do little to help his judgement in the next life. Now, Splorer. I've nothing much on you. You don't appear to have done anything really bad... hm... Ah well I'm sure you're a douche bag anyway! Bang-bang time!" And with an actual bang Splorer crumpled like Ludio into the hands of Antioch, who threw his corpse into the waterfall. He appeared to be making up for losing the Celtic throw because Splorer went through the waterfall and landed in the ground on the other side of the lake at the bottom.  
  
"I guess that makes Onyx our lucky survivor viewers!" I pretended to clap and a fake applause sound came on. "Now, for my demands. As the traitor Legend told you I may be involved in the effort to destroy the gate. That, is entirely correct. Dominus is a personal friend of mine and he will be returning soon after the wall has fallen, with some very powerful friends. Right now he travels to the True Court, where he shall appeal for aid at the Annual Gathering of the Crafts and to Jeb himself. Anyway, my demands are, that Void surrender all those fully initiated into the Brotherhood, the remaining Moderators and himself. Also, optionally, my old friend Gaba Man; the ex-Moderators Gogyst and Atreidon; and the contents of Woobly's archives. Otherwise, I will first of all destroy the gate using the weapons of Onyx and his now deceased companions. We'll give you an image of the device now."  
  
A short, chubby man with a beard holding paintings of the weapon ran, panting in front of the camera and held up the paintings, alternating them every few seconds. "The Moderators, Gaba and Woobly should know what this is. Those parasitical little children who dare call themselves soldiers who broke into my vault beneath the Realm's Citadel three weeks ago should know what I'm talking about as well. After the wall has fallen, we shall execute the other prisoners we have taken. Currently, they number in the hundreds and are happily at work in the mines. Their safety is in your hands. Now, goodnight."  
  
"We are clear!" Came the cry of Fabio, the cameraman, following me as I walked back towards my chambers. "Excellent work Ovey! Next time though, try to keep your posture straight. You looked like a hunchback out there."  
  
I shot him a cold look, and he ceased attempting to make eye contact. "And that is why I keep you chained to that peg Fabio." At this point the chain reached its maximum length and he tripped, collapsing to the floor.  
  
"Oh, yeah. I've been meaning to talk to you about that. Can you please at least loosen the chain? Its really starting to hurt my leg. Are you even listening Ovey? Ovey? Dammit Ovey liste-" At which point the doors slammed on him, cutting off the rest of his whines. I then dismissed my guard and walked into the elevator alone. Or at least, I thought I was alone.  
  
I turned and there she was, Falcon. She spoke with her almost reptilian voice, sending chills up my spine. "Excellent work my Overlord... My friend... My Starletts…”


	6. Scorched Earth Policy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Omega Initiative has been set in motion. The Craft is to be evacuated. Before they leave, two tasks remain:   
> 1\. Kill the Overlord. His army cannot be allowed to support Dominus.  
> 2\. Destroy all major settlements. Nothing must be left that the enemy can use.

It had been a week since the Overlord delivered his ultimatum was delivered, and he had received no response. Therefore, he intended to attack the city of Gaia itself. The wall would be destroyed in two days. In response to this dastardly plan Void had devised a desperate counter-attack. It was desperate indeed, especially as Void himself had been called to the True Court, to attend the annual summit, he had only left in the hope that he could either end the feud with Dominus or gather a force to match him. In his place, Ryan was in charge, organising all that he could. Void's last command before heading out was to open the "Omega Initiative".  
  
The Omega initiative was the last resort of the Vanilla Craft. It involved us retreating to the Craft's original home, in the Old Continent. Around 500 years ago the Golden Revolution of the Pigmen, Humans and Testificates against the True Court had taken place. They had lost miserably. The Pigmen, leaders of the revolt were banished to the Nether. The Testificates had been robbed of the knowledge they once cherished so greatly; cursed to roam the world as idiots - even their Golems became rudimentary, crude. The humans, were shown mercy due to Herobrine's endless appeals to Notch. However, Herobrine's people, the Thaumic people - my ancestors - had led the human conspiracy against Notch. In return, Notch turned them pale with fear and scattered them to the South and East. Notch proceeded to lethally punish those administrators who had aided the rebellion, and many of those who had opposed him on other matters. As a precaution, Qustom had proceeded to leave for the new continent, as did many others.

A new land was settled and the Craft continued to prosper. This was until Zerg's rebellion around 100 years ago. The entire Craft was destroyed, and Qustom slain. Void then banished Zerg into a far-off prison of fire and brimstone and rebuilt, and established our current home; holding a much looser grip on the Craft this time. He spent much of his time up until now writing down his story, and continuing his research into the Old Magics.  
  
The Initiative finally offered an opportunity to finally regroup with British and Gracey on the way to the ruins, allowing ourselves to further reap the rewards of their research. _"After I sent them out those long years ago to investigate the rumours of old tech founds in the Wastes..."_ I thought mournfully to myself. I quickly snapped myself out of my sudden sadness. _"Both you and they knew that it was risky business going out there! They went not because of some devotion to you, or the cause, but because they knew, and so did you, that they could do it! And they have! Rejoice damn you! REJOICE!"_  
  
However tempting the opportunity to get more rifles (and more advanced weapons) was, the Gaians would be stretched to their limits. Even with airships, millions would have to travel by land and sea to the Old Craft. The Gaian army would do its best, but only so many could be protected from bandits, enemies and the beasts of the night. Some several thousand were also travelling to the True Court under the protection of Cossack and Abby. They would gain us a foothold in the city of Mojang, and then we would join them as soon as possible. 

Nevertheless, we couldn't leave too soon in my opinion. Too many people had been lost already. A silverfish infestation, causing many to be reliant on benefits. Logging District were trapped within our borders due to incessant raiding parties on those going out. They were only allowed out on occasion to go out and burn the trees surrounding enemy camps. Commerce was only able to trade with Arcation, and in increasingly limited amounts. Farming was being pillaged endlessly. Industry and Knowledge had redirected all of their efforts towards the Redstone bomb, and its part in the plan. The Order was suffering drastic losses in its ongoing war against insurgency, their morale damaged since the death of Dawz.  
  
It did not help that we had to finish off Overlord before leaving. Thanks to the discovery of a badly wounded, but just living Celtic by the Brotherhood, we had tracked Overlord to the city of Aegis. We knew he had captured and fortified Aegis prior to Celtic's testimony but were having trouble deciphering whether he was actually hiding in the city. Now, we had developed an elaborate attack plan. Woobly had sent in scouts to assess the lay of the land, and they would now guide a series of elite strike teams through the fortress. These teams would then be able to sneak their way through while a massive assault drew away the defenders' attention. Once inside the strike teams would disable the turret, rescue the hostages, screw up Overlord's defences, open the gates, and finally join up to capture or kill Overlord and his fellow commanders.  
  
I walked into my room, waiting for me were four people. Leaning against the nearest post of my four-posting was Secret, fully equipped in Gaian armour, with the deceptively light diamond skin of his breastplate adorned with the many decorations of the general. The breastplate had once been the property of General Itzburg, or R.B. as he liked to be known. His all-seeing eyes never missed the picking of a pocket, the bulge of a hidden weapon, the twitch of a lie. There were rumours among the Order that he could see even the subtlest poison. Over his back was slung both his old green ranger's cloak, and his obsidian plated quiver; that would never be found empty for as long as Secret lived, and was given to him by Herobrine in the Great Onslaught. Clasped in his right hand was his great ebony longbow. His Gingery hair and beard glinted copper in the golden twilight; which pushed through the great windows, bleaching everything in its bright hue. His eyes brightened and filled with life at the sight of me, and a great grin spread across his face. At his side hung his chipped, ancient, broadsword, which may as well have been a knife due to its shortness. I had many a time urged him to forge a new one, or at least polish it beyond simply keeping it sharp. However, as he always said, "Its long enough to reach my enemies. When a lesser fighter manages to fell me due only to the length of his sword, with no other contributing factors like skill and or numbers; then, and only then, will it be necessary."  
  
In his armchair in the corner of the room was Aaron, who held his mighty greatsword in his lap. The sword, despite the inlaid gold fading, and the lapis gems cracking and crumbled, and the many chips in the inwardly curved blade; still managed to strike fear into the heart of any foe who laid eyes upon it. His cool, electric blue eyes reflecting not only his calm, laid-back persona, but also his quick-thinking mind, which ceaselessly ran through every possible scenario. Some scenarios he thought of were potentially impossible, but he honestly didn't give two ­s! It could still be possible that a yak wearing a straight jacket and hipster glasses, with two bombs strapped two its chest and a spoon hanging from its nose could've ran into the Nether Hub, yelled "DEATH TO HUMANITY COMRADES!" and exploded, destroying myself, Tautochrone and Atreidon during our duel. His olive coloured skin glistened with the mild sweat from the heat of the day. His black hair poked out in damp tufts from beneath his skull cap. His armour was similar to that of Secret's and my own, lacking many of the decorations but still the same design.  
  
Linx was wearing the same armour as Aaron, with the addition of a helmet. His narrow face smiling in a relieved fashion at the sight of me. He and Secret had evidently been arguing again. Tensions had been running high between them as of late. It had started the night after the Council had been announced during a small skirmish between a small group of elite soldiers, led by my old acquaintance Insert, and a brigade of the Order's operatives. Some sort of drunken feud had turned nasty, one of Insert's men had been struck a blow to the nose by a member of the Order in a bar in Walthampton and the rest had gotten involved.  
  
They had then proceeded to rough up the offending order member, attracting the attention of the rest of his brigade. Eventually, the entire population of the bar was in turmoil. Secret and Linx had both been summoned to intervene. It developed into a stand off where both backed their division, and the argument went beyond it. Linx, in his anger had accused Secret of boasting too greatly of his part in the Battle of The Nether Hub; remarking that he had no great kills to his name, and that he had simply preyed off of inexperienced mercenaries and the weaker Pigmen. Secret had in response accused Linx of being a cheaper, more cowardly knock-off of himself, and the Order of being a group of children with no real talent, tactics, or common sense. He'd gone as far as accusing Linx himself of being delusional; bringing up Linx's claims of Overlord having invisible spies within the city. Since then you could barely get the two "factions" to sit in the same room without a major feud breaking out. Aaron and I had been forced to play peacemaker between the two.  
  
"So, shall we proceed to the war room my liege?" Asked Linx as pleasantly as possible, making to open the corresponding door, only to be shunted out of the way by Secret.  
  
"Yes, shall we old friend?" Secret began, staring at me with false calm. I walked through the doors, rolling my eyes. As I momentarily glanced back, I saw the two staring daggers into each other before walking through individually.  
  
"Right," Aaron intervened. "Not letting this cold war go any fruther. We need to stay focused for this operation! You're squabbling over a couple of idiots who decided to rough each other up in a bar. That's right, I'm calling you out over the real cause of the argument. I'm not going to say whether either side is right because Linx said you were cowardly in battle Secret, or because you called Linx incompetent and delusional! You Secret need to get you AND your troop's egos under control, as well as teaching them that they don't run the place. And Linx, watch your tongue and discipline your men better! Now kiss and make up!" Cried Aaron suddenly. There was a wild look of infuriation on his face that was most unlike him. There was a long pause as everyone stared at him in awkward silence.  
  
"Is the kissing mandatory?" Inquired Linx uncomfortably. This earned him a slap from Aaron. Secret laughed cruelly and earned himself an equally stinging loss of dignity.  
  
"Just, shake hands and apologise..." Said Aaron coldly. The two obliged immediately. "Good, now lets meet with the others, shall we?" He asked, returning to his normal self. We stared at him as he turned away, walking towards the war room.  
  
"Wow. Just... Wow!" Said Secret, and we all went after him.  
  
Five minutes later we arrived at the iron doors of the War Room beneath the vault. On either side was an elite soldier. Each dressed in full enchanted diamond, with swords slung at their sides and rifles in their hands. We had tried to spread all 300 rifles evenly across the 1000 men covering our retreat. I personally thought arming all 10 palace guards with rifles was a pointless waste of resources but Secret, Cossack, Linx and Aaron all concurred that it was necessary to protect me properly, if only to keep up morale.  
  
The doors slip open slowly, trundling as the pistons retracted into their crude fittings. We slowly walked in, black cloaks gliding behind us like waves of living shadow. Standing under the flickering light of the redstone lamp were the others. Bokane stood over the map; clasping his wand in his left hand, and leaning on the table with his right; at his side was his bag of tricks, Thaumaturge's robes hanging over him. Mini, was dressed in his clunky, dented, rusty iron armour; with his old mace at his side. Only a vague purple shimmer every here and there hinted that it was more than it seemed. I had insisted that a new set of armour be commissioned for his misshapen for, however he insisted that he must fight with the same modesty as his men in order to truly become their leader. Not with decadence and grace, but with crude and grounded means. I admired his desire to truly stand with his men; experiencing the same hardships as they did.  
  
Small stood in the corner, dressed in black painted diamond, clasping an enchanted hoe that had been altered to act as a weapon. Over his back were slung the two short-swords he had used since we arrived in this land. Walt was in unaltered diamond, bow slung over his back and broadsword in his scabbard. Key was standing in the corner, wearing the ceremonial blue-white armour of the True Court. Abby and Cossack were the only ones in civilian clothes, being the only ones among us who would leave for the True Court today. They were saying their goodbyes. At the head of the map table was a weary looking Rage Peanut, explaining the plan to Bokane, Small, Mini, Walt and Key.

Protocol dictated a Moderator should be dispatched to every group before the operation began to explain the plan. However, due to the deaths of Yamada, Ludio and Splorer and the departure of Void and Epsilon for Mojang; the six remaining mods (including the injured Celtic) had to visit every faction on a tight schedule. Rage appeared most impatient as we walked in.  
  
"Come on! I'm on a tight schedule!" Demanded Rage grumpily.  
  
"Ah cool it Ragey! We get round to everything eventually. We Gaians aren't famed for our efficiency. If you want that you should have just forgotten about us and gone to Legion," I drawled in a forced laziness.  
  
"Perhaps I should have." He said scornfully, although I could tell he was at least mildly amused by my pointless antics. "Now, lets go through this plan one last time."  
  
And so he went into the details of this stage of the plan. Of the Redstone bomb in the centre of the city, that would go off at midnight. Of how we were to escape before then. Of how we had to hold them off until midnight, and then get to Spawn by any means necessary (in our case on the flagship of the Gaian airship fleet, the "Celestial Potato"). He also mentioned briefly the next stage of the plan, of sneaking into Overlord's citadel and "decapitating his head" as a division of Noobian soldiers under Void's command had described it. However, Rage insisted that they were going to interrogate him beforehand.  
  
"Is everyone clear with the plan?" Rage asked avidly, quite pleased with his inspirational run-down that everyone forgot within 30 minutes.  
  
"YES!" Yelled Mini enthusiastically. "I'm gonna run straight into that fortress and decapitate his head myself as we throw redstone bombs at his fortress and crash airships into spawn!"  
  
Rage promptly face-palmed, the slapping noise sounding similar to that of slapping someone with a fish. "Someone fill him in for me will you?"  
  
Bokane responded. "Don't worry, I'll explain it to him, one way or another."  
  
Mini, resenting the condescension, tackled Bokane. As the two proceeded to brawl Rage looked at me and said, chuckling. "You're in for one hell of a long night."

There was a rumbling. 

"They're here," said Secret.  
  
  
 **3 hours later...**  
  
"RETREAT!" came the cry of Secret over the gunshots, the exploding shells, the sounds of clashing metal and the cries of the dying, as he led the boar-riders back down the rubble-strewn street to our right, being followed by a hail of arrows. My men were watching as riders and infantry-men alike retreated towards the Celestial Potato, which was docked on the other side of the city. Secret turned from the crowd, coming into our small plaza, which was just holding out against the waves of enemies pressing against the barricade. I slit the throat of a man who was trying to climb a metal ladder over the barricade and proceeded to kick the ladder away from the wall. The man toppled from the ladder, spilling blood like red wine from a fallen glass, hitting the ground with a sickening thud. the ladder landed just to his right, crushing an eager comrade of his who had begun to climb the 3 metre ladder after him.  
  
I turned to see Secret riding into the centre of the plaza alone, armour bloodied and chipped, looking defeated. I hopped down from the barricade and walked up to him. "We can't hold them off. We need to retreat now. They've shattered our ranks with the cannons and the elite troops'll be down here soon." Said Secret, panting with exhaustion.  
  
"We can take some pathetic "elite troops". At the best of time they match the average order member. But usually they're just heavily kitted idiots with no fighting prowess. Why should we abandon our position now?" I enquired, angered by his defeatist attitude.  
  
"Its her. The twisted Gaian, or, Falcon as her men call her. Her elite soldiers were slaughtering us. Each fights with the skill of Komplex. We could barely get near them; let alone kill them. The only casualties they sustained were a few minor bullet and arrow wounds. We're going to try and regroup with the others at the CP."  
  
This was a new piece of information entirely. "Burn the barrier!" I cried. "Retreat while we still can!"  
  
Within three minutes the barrier was ablaze and we were all running full-pelt towards the airship docks. The three civilian transport waves were long gone, all that was left was for us to give the redstone bomb time to go off. I checked my pocket watch; 10 minutes to midnight, more than enough time to get clear of the explosion. We had a straight run to the docks too. _"This is too easy..."_ I thought to myself. That's when life decided to even the odds a little.  
  
On my left there was a tall apartment block. Five stories high, massive glass windows all around, heavily ornamented, however not quite well-built. We were about to pass underneath when a missile struck it about half-way up, causing the building to topple into the street we ran through. it crashed just feet in front of me, spraying dust and debris in my face. I looked around me, about 30 of us left, most were in panic, trying to force their way through some narrow gaps in the rubble. Under normal circumstances they could probably have pulled this off, however, Falcon had just arrived in the plaza and was advancing towards us. Many tried to fire upon our foes, but it was futile. The bullets and arrows would either simply dent or bounce off the diamond shells of the attackers.  
  
I rallied all who would listen and ran down a side street. My company was that of Mini, looking even more battered than earlier; Linx, who brandished a musket fiercely; and Tejmin, who looked defeated. Also with us were Mateo and Raging, two miners who used to work for me, and three generic soldier-types. "This way!" I yelled as we turned the corner to the left, seeing the fire that was spreading through the street in front of us.  
  
We ran into a fork in the road; both ways forward blocked by overturned wagons and the roads littered with the bodies of both our people, and Overlord's. The buildings on all sides were tall, more intact than others nearby. _"Its almost like this was intentional..."_ I thought to myself suspiciously, however I dismissed it as simply a smaller, luckier defence that had been abandoned by our men when Secret had sent out the call to retreat. I noticed that the wagon we needed moved (the left one) had no way under or around and couldn't be budged with our current manpower and delivered my orders. "Mini, boost Mateo and Raging up, they in turn will lift the rest up. Now, Generic soldier number Uno..."  
  
"Actually my name is Carl si-" He began in a high-pitched nasally voice, adjusting his thick glasses as he did so; but I cut across him, not really giving a damn­.  
  
"Well your name is now GSNU. Your friends are now GSND and GSNT." I said, gesturing to each soldier in turn. The other two looked at each other quizzically before redirecting their attention to me, knowing that time was of the essence.  
  
"GSNU, you and Linx will cover our route with your rifles, shoot anything that isn't Gaian or a pig. Pigs are cute. I guess Gaians are too but not in the pig cute way. No there's a distin-"  
  
"Kay," Said Mini, a sullen look on his face as he was lifted under the armpits onto the wagon. "You're rambling again and we've got 5 minutes before they leave without us, 9 before this place explodes. Lets get on with it."  
  
"Okay, those were your orders. Follow them." I said, striding up to the wagon, but before I could be lifted an armour-clad figure jumped down in front of me from a rooftop and boxed me on the ear.  
  
I toppled to the side, landing on my knees. I heard two gunshots and whipped around. Mateo and Raging were toppling from the wagon, blood spilling from their heads. The three generic soldiers and Linx were surrounding my assailant, who was brandishing a perk in one hand and a cutlass in the other. Mini was nowhere to be seen. I pulled myself to my feet, feeling warm blood running from the corner of my mouth, head ringing from the force of the blow. _"Brass knuckles... why do they always use brass ­ING knuckles?!!"_ I thought as I drew Amicus and my dagger, apoteer (Thaumic for "Potato Peeler").  
  
First GSNT ran at the attacker, to be cut down by my attacker's sword. GSND ran around the side of the mysterious assailant, hacking at his shins with his sword. In response his opponent brought his sword down on GSND's sword arm, cleaving the hand from the arm. Then he finished GSND by striking his unguarded temple, fracturing the bare skull. As GSND crumpled he heard the clicking of bullets loading in the other two's rifles. Linx fired first, his shot just missing the assailant's left ear as he veered to the right. GSNU then fired, but before he could do so the blade had flown from the assailants hand, striking him in the throat. As he spluttered and coughed up blood the assailant ran up behind him, withdrew his sword, and used him as a shield to block Linx's second shot. The assailant then fired at Linx, who dodged left but tripped and landed in some boxes.  
  
As the assailant stood over him, readying to stab with the sword , I decided to act. I brought amicus down hard on his perk arm, not chopping off his hand, but leaving a bloody gash where his forearm meets his elbow, and forcing him to drop the perk. He staggered and I prepared to stab with my dagger. However, he recovered faster than I could have predicted and blocked the dagger with the flat of his sword. He then punched me in the gut with his free hand, winding me; proceeding to swing his sword at my head. He would have shattered my helmet and brained me had Linx not grabbed his arms at the last minute, grappling with him. The assailant then broke free of his grip and hit him with the pommel of his sword, knocking him to the ground in a daze.  
  
Before I could respond the sword was knocked from my hand, skittering across the cobbled stone, and I myself was pinned against the wall, suffocating as an arm crushed my throat. As I fought for breath I got a good look at him for the first time. His face was wide and egg-shaped, with deathly pale skin. His eyes were red and blood-shot, his pupils soulless pits. His night-black hair was wild and unruly. He looked already like a corpse, but what sealed the deal were the many open wounds on his face. They littered his face, from simple cuts across his face to the great jagged gashes across his forehead and neck. They had stopped bleeding, but still seemed open, like gaping crevasses into an endless black abyss. He looked so alien but yet, I knew him.  
  
"You're a C-Companion!" I stammered, lack of oxygen getting to me. At this he loosened his grip a little, allowing me to breath momentarily. "You were there when Tass died, you were on the bridge. I saw you fall into the crevice. Are you a ghost?"  
  
"No," He breathed in an ominous tone, matching his husky voice. "I'm worse. I'm the Unknown Warrior. You left me for dead..."  
  
"I thought you were, we thought everyone was." I spluttered as his grip tightened. "We couldn't exactly check, the way back was sealed. We had no choice about that either."  
  
"Silence you fool. I do not want talk. I want the revenge promised to me by Falcon. She found me, on my last breath, she offered me a choice, serve her and gain revenge, or die there and then. Now she has delivered, after weeks of having me watch you, learning your techniques. Learning the routes you use. Now, goodbye." He boasted, dropping his sword and pulling out a small curved blade.  
  
I struggled as he pressed further on my throat and slowly moving his blade towards my good eye. He would have gouged it out there and then had Mini not intervened. Out of nowhere he came, swinging his mace at the head of Unknown. As it caved in Unknown's skull, Unknown turned to dust, his armour flying in the direction of the blow. I stared at the panting Mini in awe. I quickly blinked myself back to my senses. I then said proudly to Mini. "Not bad for a first kill. You've been paying attention."  
  
"Thanks." Panted Mini. "Lets go shall we, we've got three minutes."  
  
And so we pulled Linx to his feet, got mini the trophy of Unknown's sword, hopped the wagon and ran. The buildings around us shattered as the shells came down. All around us Gaian stragglers and Golems clashed desperately with the attackers, hope of leaving fleeing from their eyes. Then, just as the time to leave passed, the pit that was the dock came into site. The great woollen balloons of the Celestial Potato rose from the pit like a Phoenix from ashes.  
  
"We can still make it!" I yelled frantically. "Once we see the hull we're screwed!"  
  
"Of course!" Cried Linx sarcastically. "How could I forget!"  
  
We reached the edge of the dock and leapt, flying across the gap like Eagles, swooping down on their prey. Then came the inevitable rattling crashes of our armour on the polished wooden floor. We lay in a pile on the deck, groaning in pain. The troops around us stared in disbelief at our sudden, but rather feeble appearance. Mini broke the tension by spreading his arms and saying "Ta-da" in a pained voice, causing the men around us to burst into laughter. They came and helped to our feet as Secret approached, dressed in a naval officer's outfit that he had borrowed from Cossack, and clasping an old brass telescope in his left hand.  
  
"Avast me hear-" Secret began in his best pirate impression but was cut across by Linx.  
  
"Don't do it! If you do a bloody pirate impression I will ram that telescope up your ass Secret!" He shouted angrily.  
  
Secret chuckled. "Sorry my friend. Lets watch the fireworks shall we, we're just out of range."  
  
And so we turned to face Gaia's Kingdom. All that we had worked so hard to achieve was embodied in that city. The freeing of the Testificate slaves; the technological masterpieces; the movements for Noobian rights. All of it was about to disappear in one big puff of smoke.  
  
"Who brought the popcorn?" I asked, entranced by the burning city, underneath its cloak of night. The Sea of black that made up Overlord's army surrounded it, thrashing like a caged animal. Then, there was a flash of white and I was blown back a few steps. Then my eyesight cleared, and I saw the mushroom spire of smoke, flecked with patches of bright orange. There was a crater stretching the entire breadth of the city, and fire had spread over a vast area around the city.  
  
The men started to applaud our success. _"How narrow-sighted they are."_ I thought, starting to clap politely. "They celebrate victory at the destruction of their homes. But what is more tragic, the fact that their homes are destroyed? Or is it their blissful ignorance of it? Perhaps it would be better if they were saddened..." I looked around, no other man seemed to experience my grief. I felt a tear run down my face, as I smiled hollowly for my men.


	7. A Fine Plan

I looked slowly around the dimly lit stone bunker. The proper lighting system was on the Fritz so we had resorted to loosely ramming redstone torches in to keep the lamps lit; as a result the lights constantly flickering. We were seated around a heavily adorned spruce table; in richly fashioned oak armchairs, lined with the softest wool upholstery. Around the table were the leaders of each group, alone and unarmed. The atmosphere was tense. Just about everyone here hated someone around the table, or at least felt threatened by someone. In fact the only one who didn't look nervous was Scrumping Pup, leader of the Iron-worshipping Pirate-Librarians of Woobly.

He sat with his feet on the table; with a small piece of wheat in his mouth, chewing it occasionally. His body language was lax and his eyes exuded calm. He was by far the most disconcerting of everyone at the table. In their time in the Craft Woobly had gathered more intelligence, more strategy, and more dirty secrets than any other group on the server. They were the model of the Order and the envy of the Brotherhood. Scrumping knew everything about us and just how to use it against us. He (whilst very polite) was truly terrifying.

I may as well address just who was there from Scrumping clockwise. First there was Wolves Glare, who whilst making pleasant conversation with Scrumping, was nervously eyeing the Arcation and Brotherhood leaders, occasionally shooting glances at me. Then there was Ryan, who looked quite disturbed by the whole situation. He had never much been a fighter; that was Epsilon and Viking's job. He would have happily let Viking run this through, but Viking had been called to meet with the main force near Aegis to sort out some disorder.

Then there was Pi of Voidland, looking much out of his depth. He was at most used to speaking to Ruary, Walt or Key or I - people he'd come up with. Now, he was stuck in a room with the fat-cats and he felt like a mouse. Beside him: Key Persson, who sported many scars from the evacuation of Gaia 8 hours earlier. On from him there was Gogyst, who was staring daggers into Tauto, who really didn't seem to care.

After Gogyst came Boston of Concordis. Then, there was Ozzy, leader of the newly founded Elite. The day after Overlord delivered his ultimatum, the Golem and Falcon went to La Selva. The battle had been fought hard and Falcon had sustained heavy casualties, but inevitably La Selva had been defeated, their entire forest burnt to the ground, and the people slaughtered. Ozzy and much of La Selva's elite security task force had been drawn away from their city during a distraction raid. When they had returned they found nothing but ashes. The group "Elite" had been formed in order to avenge La Selva, by killing Falcon via any means necessary.

Past Ozzy sat Viral, representative for Calais since Starletts was M.I.A. since the battle of the Forum, assumed to be held hostage with the Moderators and other captives. Next there was myself, looking devilishly handsome if I must say. To my right, Walt of Waltco, who had travelled with us on the Celestial Potato as Walthampton had been destroyed by the same bomb we used. Next came General Ruary of the Legion. For a second we made eye contact but then both looked away, both seeing something unsettling in the other. Ruary disturbed by the raids I had conducted after the Requiem Conspiracy fell apart. I, frightened by what I had become during those raids, a simple murderer. For a brief moment, I had been no better than the Brotherhood, those I professed to hate for that very reason. Yet we both saw something of ourselves in the other, similar success (both reviving once great peoples who had fallen from grace), similar backgrounds (both of us had served in the Great Onslaught).

Then, there was Tauto Chrone. His bronzed skin and jet black hair glistening with sweat from the humid bunker. He was dressed in full Brotherhood armour, minus his glove. Across his bronzed face were the basic war paints of the Brotherhood, simple blue and red lines across the cheekbones. Once he was about to go into battle he would paint the rest of the face grey. This symbolised the Brotherhood's goal when 'Try Hard Pants Tubby', their covenant's founder and supreme leader, had led their chapter to this land. They had come to overwhelm the United Governments of the Red and Blue territories an endless blurring of the two, in which his Brotherhood would claim the land. Finally, there was Steal, but he had nothing noteworthy to be said about him that had not been said in another part so we'll act like he's not here unless he said something.

Ryan did a 5 minute-long register, confirming exactly what I just did in my head in 15 seconds. _"Mods he loves procedure."_ I thought to myself in a bored manner. _"I mean, he's a nice guy but he isn't cut out for the military side of things. Where's Viking or Epsilon, or even Yamada when you need them?_

He spoke.

"Hello my friends. I'm sorry that took so long. Old (bureaucratic) habits die hard I guess," He laughed nervously. A few people smiled politely but many continued to stare drolly at him. "So, anyway, the plan. We will have 3 teams of 10. 3 man squads from 3 factions, and a Woobly guide for each. The first team will consist of Arcation, Vangaard, and Blue Alliance. Guided by... Chris 'Hobo' Henderson. They will go to destroy Aegis' main gate so our main force can enter." There was a series of appreciative nods, glances, and even a few handshakes. "Now, until the prisoners are liberated from the mines, Teams 2 and 3 will be travelling together. After that point Team 2 will turn back to escort the prisoners to safety. You will consist of the Ghosts, Elite, and Waltco, and will be guided by Scrumping Pup." This was a little less of a natural fit, but still went down well enough. "Now, the final group will head onwards from the prison to find and disarm the weapon. The weapon in question is a small but highly dangerous long-range artillery piece. There are only four shots in it, each with a Moderator's staff powering it and together they will reduce the Great Gate and to an obnoxious pile of rubble. The Team who will perform this crucial Task are, The Kingdom of Gaia..." I allowed myself a proud smirk. "Legion..." I felt my smile fade slightly at the thought of being near people I had wronged so dearly. "And... Le sigh... The Brotherhood. Guided by Kofi" At this there was outcry.

Tauto, Ruary and I were all on our feet complaining to Ryan as he walked out the door. We followed him down the corridor to the lift and let loose as he waited.

"What are you smoking?" Cried Tauto.

"What are you smo- Oh, actually, Tauto's right on this one," I added.

"Why are you putting me on a dangerous job with these two madmen?!!" asked Ruary frantically.

"This man is a criminal, a thief, a griefer, a simple terrorist," said Tauto, gesturing to me.

"This despicable excuse for a human being attempted to conquer half the Craft not two months ago. He cannot be trusted to fulfil this task." I retorted angrily.

"They're both insane!!" shouted Ruary.

"Additionally, I'd prefer not to be on assignment with the screaming wuss behind me," remarked Tauto, gesturing back to the Legion's commander. "Just give my chapter leave and we will accomplish this task ourselves.

"Hey, you're the ones who pillaged my cities." Responded Ruary in anger.

"You make me feel bad about myself!" I shouted at Ruary, perhaps being a little more honest than I desired.

There was an awkward pause. "Retards..." Grunted Tauto, crossing his arms, looking away from us.

"Wanna say that to my face weather-boy." I spat venomously.

"I could take you any day of the year you festering piece of Thaumic filth. Its about time someone did the Inquisition's job for them."

Boiling rage filled my body like molten rock beneath the crust. I lashed out, striking him on the jaw, felling him. Unfortunately, I had chosen the wrong moment. The elevator opened, revealing Komplex, Ubi, Bottany, Dark Eagle, Beat and Jolly who all entered, weapon clad and ready for action. However, at the same time Insert, Aaron, Linx, Secret, Mini, Bokane, Walt and Key had just entered from the other elevator, also belaboured with weapons. Within seconds excess armaments clashed to the floor and the two groups were ready to clash, shouting war-cries. Then, just as the first blades clanged, Ryan snapped.

"SILENCE ALL OF YOU!" He cried, voice becoming strangely deep, raising his staff in their direction of the crowd, lifting us all from our feet and slamming us into the walls, suspending us in the air, pinned against the wall by intangible and invisible forces. Ryan vanished in a puff of purple smoke, before three of him appeared simultaneously in front of Tauto and Ruary and I.

"You are grouped together because Void, Epsilon and I thought you could triumph together. That is the only reason I will give and the only one I should need. Gaians and Brotherhood, you are not to fight until this is over. Ruary, your losses are in the past - the situation demands you rise to it. Do I make myself clear."

Everyone nodded, plainly terrified. "Good. I release you."

The various Ryans disappeared and the singular, undivided Moderator re-materialised in the still open elevator. "Goodnight, everybody. Get some shut-eye before the attack tomorrow." he said cheerfully as the doors closed in front of him.

"That one's crazy," grunted Komplex, indignant at having been so easily immobilised.

"I know," I said in a bemused tone, staring at the closed door. "I think I'm rather starting to like him."


	8. The Reckoning of the Overlord

We stumbled through the bodies and ashes of the fallen guards towards the throng in the centre. Gun-smoke hung thick in the musty air, causing many to cough uncontrollably. There were 19 of us still standing, with Team 3 scattered across the old salt mine, searching for additional hostages, surviving guards, and setting up our diversion.  
  
It had been a swift battle, even though they outnumbered us four to one. Bokane had given us some strange balls of black fire, plucked straight from Astro's notes. Once tossed the balls would explode on contact, having a blast radius of at least 2 metres. We'd tossed them into the groups of guards scattered throughout the room, avoiding the hostages as much as possible. We struck down the survivors as efficiently as possible with bows, perks, rocks and our one rifle.  
  
It was by all means a clean victory. We'd killed all of the guards with no real opposition, only one hostage was harmed (and in a small way at that), and we'd only sustained one casualty (and while that was a death, he'd reform within 8 hours anyway). However, the deaths of the guards had somehow been, _unceremonious_ , to say the least. One minute they were there, forcing men to mine that bitterest of seasoning, next they were burning and screaming horrifically. I knew I should have gotten used to this aspect of warfare by now. Just killing without remorse. I wasn't in His army any more; you would have thought that after ten years I'd have gotten used to that.  
  
As we walked towards the crowd of (recently liberated) hostages being organised for roll call before team 3 left, we noticed that there was some sort of commotion. Some old, dirty looking, bearded figure was struggling with Insert to get away from the crowd. "You have to listen to me you lumbering oaf! I have information that'll save all of your lives! Who is your commanding officer! Answer me damn you!"  
  
"Calm it old man you've just been through a lot in these past few weeks. Just si-" Began Insert  
  
"OLD MAN?!! I'm 31 you cocky little ­! Out of my way and tell me who your commanding officer is!" He yelled, shunting Insert out of his path.  
  
Insert prepared to batter him with his shield as I interjected. "Not now Insert. Hello my dirty-looking acquaintance, I'm Insert's . What do you need?"  
  
Insert went and moped in the corner, muttering something about "Never getting to brutalise random bystanders."  
  
"I'm no dirty looking acquaintance!" cried the dirty man. "I'm Ray Tunes!"  
  
I was so shocked that I couldn't even stop my jaw hanging open. "B-but, you're dead..." I responded stupidly. I could deny it all I wanted, but beyond the grime and thick beard it most certainly was Ray.  
  
"I know I'm supposed to be but I can explain. Some assholes mugged me after the Realm was sacked. These were Williams, Falcon, and the mastermind, my old mate Starletts. They then stripped me down and gave my clothes to some bloke who looked similar to me. Since then I've been trapped in here, gathering as much information as I could, knowing that I could use it to escape or help the rescue effort."  
  
"Hang on a second..." I responded even stupider still. "Starletts is Overlord?"  
  
"Yes." Ray responded quizzically. "I find it amazing that no one has figured it out yet, especially someone who has found out as much as you in the last few weeks.  
  
"Okay then." Said Tauto, who looked smug as he appeared by my side, making me jump. He looked strange without his old war mask, which was basically his face with full face paints made of metal. I wondered where it was for a moment, then remembered it was now hanging proudly in the captain's quarters aboard the Celestial Potato. "Tell us what you know Ray. Before we send you back with the others. We're down a man and only know what Kofi's had us memorise and we need anything you know."  
  
"Well, I know that the route I assume you're going to take, straight into the hanger where they have been shooting both people and daily updates, all entrances into which is heavily guarded and locked. I can confirm that the weapon is in there, but your intended route is very flawed. First you need to go to the security room, something Woobly greatly overlooked in their recent visits." He noticed my own and Tauto's gob-smacked expressions at the superiority of his intelligence to ours. "What? I was given a tour of the base by Starletts and his entourage in an attempt to convince me to join them. I have a photographic memory. Plus, when you know the Woobs like I do it really isn't that hard to know when they're around and when they're not. Anyway we need to go there and open the hanger doors if you're serious about disarming that thing. Although I do have an alternative you probably are unaware of."  
  
"One thing." Tauto inquired, acting on my own confusion as much as his own. "Why do you refer to it as the "hanger"?"  
  
"Because it used to be a secret airship hanger. As a result there is a blast door type device that is directly controlled from the security room. There is no way of opening it once the security command is put in. Heck, you could lock down the entire castle from there. But, anyway, "Starlord" as I've come to call him, will be unable to fire his artillery piece as long as that door is shut."  
  
"Well what are we waiting for? Lets go!" Began Ruary, who had appeared behind us, taking us both off guard.  
  
"Apparently for them to leave." Said Ray, nodding towards Team 2 and the former hostages.  
  
"Hey Viral, Walt, Ozzy and Scrump." They paused and looked to me as I called to them. "We're gonna go kick Starletts' ass. Btw, did any of you know he was Overlord?"  
  
Everyone gasped, and then wished us luck and team 3 set out. Our number was 10 counting Ray. From the Gaians, there were myself, Aaron, and Insert. Insert was our finest fighter, only matched by Secret and Aaron. He fought with grace and dexterity that was unheard of from the Hoplites of the East. He had a fierce rivalry with Vacar and Shadows, with whom he frequently duelled. This short weedy Asian man of 21 years had deceived and kicked the ­ out of innumerable people who had questioned his ability. He, like many of the Gaians was both an ex-fugitive and officer from the Great Onslaught. And, unlike almost all of the others, he had fought on the side of the Endlings and Thaumic peoples. However, despite our political differences we got on well. He was a great listener when he wanted to be, despite a huge ego in public, and a wise consul; whom I frequently consulted.  
  
Of the Brotherhood there was Tauto Chrone's Brother St. Jay of the church of the Try Hard Pants, otherwise known as Jolly, or "Jolly Saint Jay". Also there were Tauto Chrone himself and Ubi. Of Legion were General Ruary, his ex-commander, Lieutenant Palmer and Broken Appliance. We would have been a solid team, if it weren't for our histories.  
  
I believe I've commented enough on the Brotherhood-Gaian conflict but I haven't yet fully explained the Legion problem. The night of the Requiem conspiracy everything had fallen apart. Gerrit had been arrested and FCC exiled and everyone else panicked and bailed. I was waiting outside Brotherhood HQ with 15 men or so for eight hours in the rain. My men's morale was low, we had no hope of confronting the Brotherhood with our current force. We had to find somewhere to go. We stumbled for 8 more hours and we arrived at Legion. We craved for battle, and food. So we attacked. The raid was brutal, 30 Legionnaires were dead by the end. Fires had broken out all over the city; crops were trampled and burned; civilians lay dead in the dirt with their slaughtered livestock. It was by far the most tragic raid to ever occur in Legion.  
  
In the middle of the attack, I, overcome by my own anger at the tragedies of the last few days, ran into the housing estates. I kicked down the door of the first house I came to and slaughtered the three men inside. The house caught fire during the slaughter and as I was about to slay the last of them, I saw it. I saw in the fiery silhouette reflected in his eyes, that I had gone too far. I was just as bad as those who had wronged me those long years ago. I lost my nerve and ran, taking my men with me. Insert, who had been present, had never let me live it down.  
  
But anyway, back to what's happening in the Aegis castle. We ran past a window facing the Scaen gates of Aegis, seeing the explosions going off across the cityscape and fights going off across the walls. Great siege towers made of wood and iron, sometimes even obsidian constantly advanced towards the walls, arrows and rifles raining hell on the defenders from the platforms on top. Every here and there one of the towers would be struck by a shell from one of the cannons along the wall and topple to the ground in flames.  
  
Then, without warning there was a bright white flash from the centre of the gates. Even from the massive distance we were at we were forced to take a few steps back due to the sheer force of the explosion. I blinked away the spots to see the gates beginning to crumble. I remembered my brief time living here while the Winged Federation was ruling the Barbarian zones. I had always thought that those gates would never fall, even at the hands of Notch himself. I was always incredulous at the very idea that someone could have infiltrated such an impenetrable city. Much less the laid back goof-balls that made up Woobly. Now, here the gate was, a pile of dust before my eyes, with our men flooding in to confront Overlord's army.  
  
We took a moment to enjoy the view, Ruary honouring the sight with a ceremonial salute. The moment of calm however, was broken by a cry of, "Who the hell are you?" from an "honour guard" who had just shown up. He was not alone either, there were five other members of Overlord's Honour Guard, all armed with iron armour, clasping spear's who's points shimmered with magical energy. That was not all, they were accompanied by two of Falcon's personal "Storm troopers" as they were referred to as in the daily addresses. Both were dressed in the finest diamond, holding massive double-bladed axes. To top it all off there was a golem. Not Antioch, but developed from him. It was of inferior quality and intelligence to Antioch, but it was still a force to be reckoned with.  
  
I gestured to Aaron to run around the back and deal with the hack through the golem's legs, and for Insert to deal with the Storm Trooper on the right. I was to draw the attention of the rest. However, as we commenced our plan, The Brotherhood commenced there's, as did the Legionnaires and Ray sort of commenced his own plan. The brotherhood plan was for Tauto to rush the Storm Trooper on the left; Jolly was to confront the golem; and Ubi was to do much the same as I was. Legion locked their great, zigzagging shields into a straight line and marched towards the crowd, swords poking through the gaps in between. As they got nearer their line was to slowly began curving, hopefully trapping and killing the guards as they got nearer. Ray ran up to the golem and threw a rock at it, which promptly bounced of and hit him in the head, causing him to stumble aimlessly through the battlefield in a cartoon-like manner.  
  
I, seeing what the Legionnaires were trying to do ran around the right side and began pushing them back towards the lines of the Legionnaires, as did Ubi from the left. I rushed into their lines, cutting down the first man I saw, causing them to back up slightly. However, they slowly began to advance and as I lashed out to block the incoming blows I was forced to give ground. Ubi, seeing my need, unhooked his chakrams and rushed to my aid, swinging the deadly rings wildly. Slowly but surely, like shepherds herding sheep, we forced them back towards the lines of the Legionnaires, where they were promptly cut down.  
  
I looked behind me, Tauto and Insert were using a similar tactic to myself and Ubi, herding them together before felling them like trees. The golem fight however, was truly something to behold.  
  
Aaron rushed at the golem, ducking under its great square fist as it swung at him. Aaron then swung his sword at the golem's left leg, cleaving open the metal shell, forcing it down to its knees. The soulless black eyes of the golem would have been writhing in pain were this any other creature. Aaron began to swing his mighty blade at the golem's neck, but before he could cut down the creature, he was struck in the side by a great iron fist, knocking him to the floor. He lay in a daze and looked up to see the golem hunched over him, preparing to crush his skull with one fell swoop. However, before any of us could act, the golem made a sound similar to that of a crying in pain. A fiery rope had formed around its neck and was cutting deeply into it as its holder pulled it backwards. It was Jolly.  
  
He had lashed out with his whip of flames and caught the golem around the neck, pulling it back from its pray; struggling and lashing out at its prey like a dog on a leash, forbidden to sniff/lick what it was so enthralled with a moment before due to its owner's tight schedule. Then, as an oak falls in the forest at the hands of a lumberjack, so did the golem. Jolly pulled his whip back and struck the golem, leaving a gash across the face. He struck the golem again and again until suddenly, as Jolly was to deliver the final blow, the golem grabbed the rope. Its square fist shot into the sky and held it with a vice-like grip.  
  
Jolly was pulled in as he struggled to free his whip from the fingers of the great creature. Before St. Jay knew what was happening, he was on his front, just before the wounded beast. The great iron fist rose in the air above Jolly, who was too petrified to even blink. The fist stopped mere inches above Jolly's head. The golem had stopped moving entirely, a blade protruding from the golem's chest.  
  
Aaron retracted his sword and the golem fell safely to the side, still locked in its position, like a statue. "That was tense." He panted, grinning as he wiped sweat from his bruised brow. "You know Jolly. We should do this more often. Saving your ass is great exercise."  
  
Jolly laughed and retorted. "Yeah, I guess you're not totally worthless for a piece of Gaian scum." Normally we would have taken this as an insult or mockery. However, there was little of the usual Brotherhood Gaian malice.  
  
"Come on people, we did well but we have to move." Shouted Ray needlessly loudly at the wall. "That weapon is going to go off in 20 minutes!" I wondered how he knew what time we had left. No one had told him from the team and the Woobs had gone through hell and back to get the exact launch time.  
  
"Um... Ray." Said Ruary uncomfortably. "That's a wall."  
  
"Oh," replied Ray, clearly embarrassed. "So I am." He turned to face us and blinked a little bit. "Ah-ha! Much better! That a'way!"  
  
And so we ran through the empty corridors of the fortress, the sounds of battle growing ever closer. At last we arrived at the great oak doors to the security room. We prepared for the worst and kicked open the doors, weapons ready. However, we were great by an empty, dark room.  
  
It was a large dining hall. I remembered it from my time here only by the great dining table and high ceiling. Everything else was indistinguishable. Where there were once paintings, along the walls on the left and right there were 16 great silhouettes of metal compartments just as big as a golem. Once the ceiling had been adorned with artwork and a great skylight. Inside each was a suit of half-finished or damaged suit of armour.

Now, there were metal walkways and the skylight was cracked, illuminating the length of the table with a fractured path of moonlight. At the far end there was a spinning armchair with its back facing us. At the end of the room there was a panel of weird flashing lights and similar machines to those that we found in the vault. To the right was a strange cylindrical chamber, glowing softly.  
  
Ray ran up to the panel, hardly able to contain himself. The rest of us followed him warily. I found Ray's reaction odd, like a child having trouble to get to the punchline of a joke because they found it so funny. Just as Ray pressed the first button the doors slammed shut. Broken ran and tried to pull them open but found them to be locked.  
  
"Okay Ray, fun's over. What's going on?" Demanded Palmer, brandishing a perk.  
  
"Seriously?" Inquired Tauto indignantly. "Have we set up some sort of flipping trend? When did everyone get perks?!!"  
  
"Aw... But Palmer..." Said Ray mockingly, acting like a small child complaining about being called inside to do homework. "The party hasn't even started yet. The special guy just arrived." He gestured to the armchair.  
  
Palmer advanced towards the armchair slowly, keeping the perk pointed at it at all time. "Come on! Up with you!" He shouted as threateningly as possible. There was no response.  
  
"You! The ****-wad in the armchair. I'd like a word." There was no response other than a borderline insane laughing from the armchair.  
  
"Hello?" Inquired Palmer, edging ever closer. The laughing continued.  
  
"Your out of your depth. Your a relic, a parasite of a bygone age. My Brothers died to stop you and your "United governments". Yet you live... I hope to change that today." Came the voice of the man in the chair. His mocking laughter had turned to words of ice and venom.  
  
"Don't try and intimidate me you sad little man. I come to avenge them today. You die today brother. You die today Complex 14 you scum!" Palmer had a mad look in his eyes. I wanted to intervene but my curiosity  
  
"So, 11, its you... I mistook you for the other one. Your imbecile commander." Replied Complex 14.  
  
"Hey..." Said Ruary indignantly. Broken, Aaron, Ubi, Insert and Jolly all chuckled a little but were quickly shushed down by myself and Tauto, both enthralled in the disucssion.  
  
"No 14 it is I. And now, your end is nigh. Then your mate at the panel will die." He gestured to Ray, who was still standing motionless by the control panel, looking most please with himself. He knew so many things we didn't. It really ed me off.  
  
Palmer grabbed the chair and span it around. Just as his target's hands came into view from behind Palmer's hulking frame there was a crackling noise, a flash, and Palmer collapsed onto his lap. There he was, the Overlord, Complex 14, Starletts. Still wearing his mask it was unable to discern whether Ray had told us the slightest bit of Truth. Over-Star-14 brushed Palmer off of his lap with his gauntlet, which was smoking from the recent blast.  
  
"A pity, he was always the best battlefield tactician out of us. Lets see. Who's left." He pulled out a list with numbers up to sixteen and then the names Unknown, Williams and Falcon loosely scribbled on the bottom. "There were twelve of us alive after _Sixteen_ betrayed the Realm, fourteen including you Ray and that lovely young girl of yours. Its a pity what happened to her. Then, One and Six went soft. They were dealt with. Four and Five sacrificed themselves during the destruction of the United governments and Council of Lords. We succeeded. "11" then left us and "2" succumbed to his illness, poor Viral." He paused for a second, evidently contemplating loss of a friend. Ray's eyebrow had been furrowed since the mention of the girl. I personally came close to ­ting myself at the discovering of Viral, "mad ol' Viral's" possible involvement.  
  
"Then "10" was sentenced to banishment and fled." He continued." He waits with Dominus' army currently. Then the War happened. Then "15" betrayed us. Then the "Family" was disbanded until further notice. Then I sent "8" to infiltrate the Brotherhood. Then not much happened. Then Ray formed Tea, then a lot of stuff happened. Then there was the Battle of the Nether Hub, when we discovered that "3" was still alive. Then One-Eye over there became a king, we gave "3" his order's and he's been informing us ever since. Now, please calm down everyone, you look most tense."  
  
"Give me one reason why we shouldn't cut you down now." I said coldly, brandishing Amicus fiercely. "Also, I resent being referred to as _"One-Eye"_."  
  
"Well, Ray. Show them." Said Overlord. And Ray showed us.  
  
He pressed a button on the panel and the lights snapped on. All over the walkways above us were men with bows and javelins. From between the compartment came men in the Dozens until we were completely surrounded. They were predominantly Honour Guards but there were a number of Storm Troopers in the crowd too. At the door was Antioch, blocking the only conceivable exit. I turned to face Ray.  
  
"How could you do this traitor?"  
  
"Oh please. No need for formalities." He said playfully. "Call me Williams."  
  
"Needless plot twist much?" Asked Ruary. "I mean seriously. Isn't it enough that he betrayed us? The writer was obviously very bored when he wrote this."  
  
"What writer?" Asked Jolly nervously.  
  
"I dunno, he wanted to give me more to say," Replied Ruary sadly, hanging his head.  
  
"Now, kill them all." Said Starletts coldly.


	9. The Family in the Shadows

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A new betrayal threatens to shake the fabric of nature itself. As Aaron faces down Antioch and Overlord attempts to ascend, Kay, Tauto and Ruary must warn Ryan and the Mods they're marching right into a deadly trap.

"WAIT!" Shouted Ray. The archer bowstrings slackened, and the soldiers around us lowered their weapons. "What on Earth?" I thought.

"Huh?" Asked Starletts spinning his chair to face Ray.

"May I do the honours cupcake?" Said Ray, putting emphasis on the last word. Something was off, Antioch's eyes flickered for a moment and a number of men in the crowd exchanged looks of satisfaction. There was something familiar about the men's complexions and garbs that was familiar. The skin tone was a similar pale to my own, and they wore tattoos that, whilst near indistinguishable from this distance were somehow familiar.

"Yes but never call me cupcake again." Replied Starletts, blissfully unaware of the exchange that had just occurred. "Might I first congratulate you on a job well done though. You now how my complete trust. I will help you deal with the Falcon."

"Thank you." Ray said grimly. "Too bad that I cannot allow either of you to triumph this day. Falcon will not escape to fulfil her aim of resurrection. Nor will you make your bid to ascend."

"Hang on. I thought you simply aimed to destroy the walls?" Inquired Tauto, sounding almost as bewildered as I felt.

"First of all, the weapon is a decoy, the walls will not fall because of it." Starletts began casually, but become increasingly more malicious as he went on. "The walls will fall because I will tear them down myself. You see, when a Moderator dies they do not go on to one of the after-lives. No, they become a spirit, a being similar to a ghost, but real and less creepy. Depending on whether or not they remained pure they may either remain bound to their own coffin or regain semi-physical form and eternal youth to serve in the True Court, guarding the Divines until the end of time.

"We have created a weapon that can absorb the essence of the Moderator, killing them with no possible chance of a spirit forming. The essence can then be stripped down to raw energy, and be used as a near infinite power-source for say, my gauntlet, or an armour suit based upon my gauntlet. Redstone energy can only go so far you know. Power it with the essence of a Moderator and you'd become one whilst in the suit. Imagine a suit powered with the strength of two, maybe even six Moderators. You'd have the power to rival one of the Divines - Void won't stand a chance. The best part is, I can also absorb a just regular people as well. Much more temporary but damn it looks fun. Now, men, kill the entourage, but make sure to leave the choir boy, Komplex's stand-in and Herobrine's errand boy."

We all gasped at the thought of Starletts in such a position, then frowned because of his insults.

"Second of all." He turned to face Ray. "What did you say?"

"I said its time I stopped you. Dominus is supposed to be the one who claims the suit. You will take it for your own. I will gladly wear it if it means that Dominus receives its benefit. As for Falcon, as long as you agree to stay out of the suit, we can work together on that front."

"You dare threaten me..." Starlett's tone was cold as ice and his tongue sharper than the sword at my side. His gauntlet transformed into a blade and he approached Ray, who was rummaging around beside one of the panels. 

Ray pulled out what could only be inferred as the weapon Starletts had spoken of just moments previously from the way he leapt back in fear. It was similar to the gauntlet Starletts wore. However, it was coated in strange Thaumic Runes. The ones for "Erasing", "Consuming" and "Death" were prevalent. That's when I realised who the men in cloaks were.

"Yes. I dare." Ray responded coldly and mechanically.

"Kill him Antioch! Kill him Now!" He shouted angrily, But Antioch did not respond. Starletts began to back up until he was among our crowd. "What's going on?!!" He cried frantically, dropping to his knees. His men moved to attack but he waved them down frantically, not taking his eyes off the gauntlet for a second.

"There-there. We're all just as confused as you. It'll all be fine." Said Aaron mockingly, patting him on the shoulder.

"So, what's this all about Ray?" Ruary boldly demanded, giving Ray a steely glare.

"Well, I''ve always had a certain fondness for you and your legionnaires, and . Therefore I will give you some of the story.

"I am Overlord. Not the terrorist/revolutionary leader; but the project leader from ten years ago. Operation Overlord is old news to all of you I know. 14 of us made it out of the wreckage of the facility alive, not including Fedwin. Fedwin escaped separately and was never inducted into the Family. Starletts has a special Complex, allowing him to be very susceptible to new information for the first 24 hours of receiving a dosage. He can be completely reprogrammed in that time window and until he either hears a trigger word from a trigger person he will not question what he's been told at all, then "turned on and off" as it suits my needs. Makes him the perfect puppet. Even believes the plans that he enacts were his ideas."

"So you've been controlling this "Family" of yours through Starletts this whole time. Trying to do what exactly? Assure Dominus' rule over the Craft? Perhaps more than the Craft... No. Dominus is pretty damn ambitious but he'd need undisputed control of at least seven of the ten major Crafts first." Responded Tauto, eyebrows furrowed in concentration. "There is something crucial I'm missing here. What makes Falcon so dangerous?"

"She's a demon from another realm and that's where I'll leave it to protect the dignity of its victim."

"Thaumic I assume. It couldn't be one that latches on to its victim for years unnoticed, could it? One that only truly becomes active if the victim dies? But of course, that's preposterous." I remarked pointedly.

"Well I can tell you you're not far off the mark. How did you guess?" Asked Ray, bemused, lowering his gauntlet from Starletts head momentarily.

"Because of the Thaumic mercenaries you've quite blatantly placed in the crowd. By the looks of it, demon-hunters who specialise in the expulsion of creatures such as this."

"You always were too observant for your own good Kay. Now I'm afraid its your damning. Attack!" Cried Ray, running up to the cylindrical device. It slid open smoothly, revealing a bright light, just illuminating the outline of the suit.

Antioch and the Thaumic warriors sprang into action. Antioch began spraying the men on the walkways with bullets, felling them in the dozens. The Thaumics however, despite Antioch's brutality, had style on their side. All were armed with some form of staff, spraying lightning, fire and frost into the crowd of warriors around them.

We readied ourselves for this. First, Ubi knocked Starletts unconscious, slinging his limp form over his shoulder. Ruary took the Gauntlet from Starletts, brandishing it at any foe who dared come too close. Aaron, Jolly, Broken and Insert ran forwards to clear the way to the door. Tauto and I stayed near the rear with Ruary, covering our retreat.

I looked up at the cylinder momentarily, compressed air sprayed from the vents on the sides. Out of it slumped Ray, clad in white armour. He pulled himself up, armour whirring strangely as he did so. Atop his head was a strange circular helmet, with slits for eyes, both of which glowed blue. Strange blue lamps glowed all over his shining body, mainly around the joints, but the largest was right in the centre of the torso. It would pulse lightly, sending shimmering blue lines across the body with each one. He was the most strangely awe-inspiring yet terrifying sights I had seen since Notch and Herobrine's duel at Zinecraft. Not even Antioch could help but stare at his glorious form.

One poor sod was unlucky enough to find himself in a trance just in front of the cylinder. Ray walked slowly towards him. The man tried to back up but Ray predicted this. He jumped, the soles of his boots sprung outwards in such a way that he was sent into a somersault. He landed with a crash in the man's path, smashing the planks downwards, and leaving the imprints of his boots in the polished spruce surface. The man turned to run back to the cylinder, but was grabbed around the back of the skull.

None of us were ready for what happened next. The runes on the gauntlet glowed purple, and within seconds, the man's veins were glowing the same colour. Then the man's eyes and mouth started exuding purple shadows, a blood-curdling cry of both pain and horror coming from his throat. He began to thrash around frantically, like a marionette being controlled by a bad puppeteer with an exceptionally shaky hand. As this all happened, his skin turned pale, and he became thinner and thinner; to the point where he was more skeleton than man. At last, the man stopped thrashing, the spark of his life disappearing from his eyes as they rolled back into his skull.

Ray dropped the poor skeletal being to the floor where he crumbled to the dust. Normally this was a good sign, however the dust stayed where it was, no magic swirly tornado shape lifted some of the dust away, where it would reform. To add to this there was a sense of finality about the dust, more fragmented than dissolved. I stared at Ray as he stood still, who in turn was staring at his good work. Then my stupor was abruptly broken.

Ray turned and shouted. "Antioch, do not let them escape and warn the moderators! I'll clean up here!" The triumph in his voice was evident in the last sentence. He then rose four feet in the air and commenced raining hell upon both mercenary and soldier alike.

I turned tail and ran towards the door. Insert and Aaron were holding the door open, waiting for me to get there, Insert desperately fending off attackers with his spear. Antioch was heading straight for the door, and he would have beaten me there if Ruary hadn't thought fast and blasted him with the gauntlet. In Antioch's momentary dismay I managed to slide through the opening, just slipping through as my two comrades slammed it shut and put and sealed it with an iron bar.

We allowed ourselves a moments respite. Around us the guards were too busy rushing around the fortress or tending to the wounded to pay us any real attention other than a scowl or rude gesture. Thoughts were rapidly rushing through most of our heads. "...RAY IS OVERLORD?!!!" I was stuck there in my thinking, still dumbfounded.

"Someone needs to slap the writer for all of these irritating plot-twists! DAMN YOU ANONYMOUS HYPOTHETICAL SCRIBE! It had better not be you Apostle!" Cried Ruary, down on his knees shaking his fist at the sky.

"STOP BREAKING THE FOURTH WALL DAMMIT!" Shouted Ubi, whacking the stirring Starletts' head off the wall as he turned to respond.

"Well-" Ruary was cut across by a huge metal fist ramming through the door. We all jumped back a few steps.

"RUN!" Cried Insert, in what is possibly his first real line in this series before turning tail and running up the corridor.

We all followed him as closely as possible; as the door splintered open and Antioch came running after us, firing the occasional shot. "What do we do now?" I asked loudly, struggling to be heard over Antioch's advance.

"We need to warn Ryan about Ray, he and Viking'll be the main targets." Responded Ruary, his battlefield instincts kicking in. "Then we need to think about catching Falcon and the Complexes that are evidently on the loose, and preparing to act out Dominus' deadly machinations. But first we need to send the tin axe-murderer back to the land of Oz. Anyone feeling stupid?"

"Especially stupid." Said Aaron boldly. "And I've got a plan. You guys head on, I'll stop this mo-fo."

"B-but A-a-aaron..." I stammered, dumbfounded at his apparent death wish.

"Don't worry, I've ran through this scenario so many times. There's no way this can succeed without this happening." He said with complete confidence, to the point where I couldn't help but believe him. It was at moments like this that I wondered whether the rumours of him being and oracle were true.

We rounded a corner, sliding on the polished quartz floor. Aaron and I stopped for a few seconds, making eye contact. "Good luck." I said to Aaron. He simply smiled and nodded. We shook hands firmly and parted; Aaron Turning to face Antioch, who had just turned the corner.

Aaron grabbed the satchel of black fireballs from his side, holding his great-sword in the other hand. For thirty seconds he and Antioch glared at each other, then Antioch made the first move. Both hands morphed into guns and he began fire rapidly. Stone was reduced to mere flying chips in clouds of white and grey, great craters and gashes appear in the tiled floors and the metal gilded walls. The once beautiful tapestries and portraits were reduced to tattered rags in broken "frames" of of wood, if they could still be called frames. Occasionally a bullet would ricochet off a particularly hard surface or metal adornment; usually flying up into the ceiling and sending down a shower of splintered wood and sawdust.

Antioch fired until there was a cloud of gun-smoke and powdered stone and wood that was so great that you couldn't see through it. From the middle of the cloud there were a few vague sounds of struggling and spluttering, then silence. Antioch would have smirked had he lips, but in the lack of them morphed his hands back in fists and made a rude gesture at the cloud where Aaron lay. He was about to march through the cloud when there was a swift glint of blue and a sudden damage warning from his chest. He looked down to see the great-sword's hilt protruding from the left side of his chest. He staggered backwards momentarily, his coordination circuit starved of its main supply of power. He'd have to form a back-up path. It was only two minutes wasted but it was two minutes he'd rather have wasted poking the body of the Gaian with long stick, or drawing a frowny face in his ashes with one.

Then from the cloud came a lightning fast figure clasping a strange sack. Antioch, despite the lack of a coordination circuit swung out at him in a clumsy manner. The figure easily dodged underneath, and looking up pulled something out of the bag. At this point Antioch ran a scan of the figures face. "TARGET IDENTIFIED: Aaron; second name unknown. OCCUPATION: Businessman; Gaian lord; Military officer. RACE; Half breed between lesser divine and human. DESCENT: Illegitimate love-child of Lesser divine and Western human nobility. Raised by dwarves in Stoneholm. Later ventured to Zine Craft and became a respected clock-maker. During Great Onslaught served as military officer in the army of the True Court. Went to Vanilla Craft in the aftermath of the Onslaught with the wizard, Astro; the future Gaian king, Kay Mandy; Ranger and future Gaian general Secret Lol; esteemed artist and assassin Small Doughnut, along with a host of others. THREAT LEVEL: ranges from derp to deadly." Antioch couldn't help but wonder how in the name of Notch the ascended this was supposed to help him fight but just decided to roll with it.

Aaron, in the split second it took Antioch to register all this had tossed one of the small black fireballs in the Golem's iron face. The was a flash of black light and Antioch stumbled back from Aaron, a smouldering hole below his left eye socket. Aaron smirked as Antioch failed to weave the wound back together. "Not so invulnerable now are you. with a sword through your chest and half your face gone. I cannot believe Overlord stowed such faith in this glorified furnace. I'm disgusted by your sloppiness in proper combat. Prepare to taste my blade! Oh wait..." Aaron jeered, tone harsh and haughty.

Antioch, angered by Aaron's harsh words, extended one of his guns and fired five shots in quick succession. With the lack of a coordination unit it was all down to chance. All but one bullet missed. Aaron dodged the first four bullets with ease, but he did not see the fifth as he prepared he counter-attack. As Aaron lobbed the black fireball at Antioch's gun, he was struck in the centre of his chest by the bullet. Later Aaron described the sensation of being shot directly in chest by Antioch as: "Remember that huge ass metal shoe trap Astro used to -quite literally- kick Cossack out of the guild? Imagine the equivalent force of twelve of those dancing on your chest whilst coated in lava. Its not a very nice sensation."

Aaron struck the floor with a clatter, wind rushing out of his lungs. He lay on the floor gasping for breath, like a fish yanked from the water and left to die on the hull of some ship somewhere. There was no sensation of crumbling or ceasing of being and now he naturally assumed he would truly die. He prepared to let death's sweet embrace take him. His eyes fluttered shut, and he readied for eternal slumber. Then they snapped open as he realised he wasn't bleeding, was still breathing and was probably just being a wuss. He sat up and looked down, there was a large dent just over his heart where the bullet was still lodged. He pulled it out the notice that while there was a hole in his armour it had not actually made contact with skin. He was almost disappointed.

He then looked up and saw Antioch clasping his left hand, which was now a melted mass of metal. Seeing that Aaron was alive and in semi-good health, Antioch finished off his repairs and got into a combat stance. Aaron noticed that his bag of fireballs had skittered across the floor behind Antioch. The two charged at each other. Just as Antioch was about to punch Aaron in the face, he slid between the Golem's legs, and reached out for the bag. He just caught the top of the sack-cloth bag with his fingers, clasping it tight. Then there was a violent tugging sensation on his left leg and Aaron found himself facing an upside down Antioch. He stared into those life-like blue eyes, terror striking him.

Antioch swung at Aaron with precision. The North Wind itself would have been crushed if he received such a blow. Aaron gripped the end of the bag and shook the explosive contents over the floor. There was a black flame and Aaron was lifted, then consumed. He felt a sensation of falling, then more falling, then falling some more, then he smashed into the floor. He looked up, fading in and out of consciousness, the smoke cleared vaguely. He had evidently cracked open the floor and fallen quite far through a number of levels. Every bit of him ached, but he wasn't dead.

", I'm alive. Didn't count on this." He murmured to himself. He looked left, Antioch was missing his left foot but was hauling himself to his feet with great effort. All over him were various wounds, some healing, some remaining open. In a last ditch effort to regain balance Antioch tugged the sword from the left side of his chest, making a loud grinding noise. The wound immediately began to seal over. The sword clattered to the floor, unknowingly skittering towards its master. Aaron pulled himself to his shaking legs and clumsily grabbed the sword from the floor. There were open wounds all over his arms, along with a burn-wound showing from a gaping hole in his breastplate. His armour and clothes were tattered to the point where they hung off him like eggshells. The room they were in was a hall of stone. The floor was chequered black and white, like a great chess board. All along the walls were steam-pipes, hissing and bubbling. They were evidently close to the boiler.

He and Antioch charged for the final time. Antioch caught Aaron off guard and slammed him into the wall with one arm. The sword hung limply in Aaron's right hand. Antioch caught him with that calmly intelligent blue gaze and for the third time that night Aaron prepared for death. His eyes clenched shut as Antioch drew back his melted fist. Then he opened then, thought "I have got to see a therapist about this..." and sunk the sword into Antioch's other arm. The resulting mechanical cry from Antioch echoed around the stone hall.

Aaron saw his opportunity and acted quickly. As Antioch groaned Aaron swung. There was a glint of blue, a crunching noise and then there was a clattering noise. Antioch's head rolled skittered across the floor mournfully, eyes flickering sadly, before going completely dark. Aaron turned as the great body collapsed with a great crash. He turned to see two awestruck Brotherhood soldiers carrying bags of satchel charges, both holding weapons as if they had just been about to join in when Aaron ended the fight. Aaron recognised them from that day about 6 months after the war ended.

The Brotherhood had changed hands from a distraught Komplex, to a fresh and ambitious Tauto. Unlike Komplex, who seemed overly devoted to the destruction of the Realm, despite Woobly's surprise attack which almost completely destroyed it. He never had taken defeat well. Despite the massacre that had taken place, during which at least twice as many Realm soldiers died as Brotherhood soldiers did, Komplex couldn't help blaming himself for letting Dominus slip through his fingers again. His last real action as leader of the Brotherhood had been to attack and destroy the Woobly Pyramid, before disbanding one of the best trained human armies in the history of the Craft. He had contemplated going back and hunting down Dominus. However, it simply seemed to him that it was unsporting for one. Then there was the difference between cutting him down in his own Citadel in front of a group of haughty aristocrats and servants as his army swarmed through the citadel in a glorious charge; and slaughtering some bloke in a forest in front of a bunch of rather weary woodcutters and builders with an oversized army that was hopelessly bored.

Then the Brotherhood had remained inactive for roughly five months. They were almost forgotten, a children's tale told to scare small children and make them check under the bed for a hairy creature wearing funny pants. Tauto however, had other plans. He convinced the still confused Komplex that he was in no shape to properly lead, and needed a rest; gaining himself title of Chapter leader in the process. Then he, Mad Dog (now Atreidon), St. Jay and Ubi began their machinations. Mad Dog was sent out to spread a message of fear among the other groups, whilst also offering them the possibility of salvation should they side with the Brotherhood. The others went out and "re-asserted" Brotherhood dominance in the Frontlines. Then they began stealing Testificate slaves and breeding them, reforming their dominance in the slave trade after the THP-land massacre. Then, a month in the Brotherhood began recruiting for the first time since they arrived in this land.

There was a large meeting in the Forum for the trial of Gerrit. Whilst Kay and Mad went toe to toe to the point where they started brawling Aaron had been outside with Secret, "chilling" at the Shrine. Suddenly Ubi and Tauto came out with Bottany and set up a huge podium, drawing the attention of the large crowd that was gathered. Then Jolly came up and made some rousing speech or something and asked for volunteers. Their task was to fight Ubi in the boxing rink. Should they survive three rounds or beat Ubi they could join the Brotherhood. Many tried and failed, but by the end they had six new recruits. These were Beatman, Bebe, Get Mad, Sky Canopus, Johnny Apple and Loki. Before Aaron now were Loki and Johnny. They seemed most impressed for Brotherhood members. Usually the Brotherhood never let on when they were impressed. Therefore, either Aaron had just done something impossibly badass; these guys were kept out of the major public image for a reason; or Antioch had hit him harder than he thought.

Johnny was the first to speak. "That was pretty damn impressive Gaian, ever consider applying to a real cause? I mean Kay makes some okay points, and he's a pretty good tactician but admit it, we're always going to come out on top." He spoke haughtily and without empathy.

" off. I don't need this..." Grunted Aaron, turning and limping away from the two; disgruntled by Johnny annoying salesman approach to recruitment.

"I'm sorry, forgive my arrogant friend. You can see why he's not let outside a lot. I'm Loki, pleased to make your acquaintance. " He continued before Johnny could protest. "Do you know where the others are. Brother Beatman said there was some sort of offensive going on down here, he gave us a map. I'm starting to think it wasn't a proper map and he was trying to get us out of the way." He handed over a small wooden sheet with a few scribbles on it.

"This is a game of snakes and ladders: pocket edition with a bunch of squiggly lines and a misspelt "X". I'm not sure how he managed it but he spelt it "iXe". You guys actually fell for this piece of ?" Aaron asked incredulously.

"We only got the map a few minutes ago. He was leading us from it." Said Johnny in a whiny voice. "Hang on where is Beatman? He was with us a minute ago. Gave us the map so he could go take a and sent us on. I would have thought caught up by now."

"This is odd. There is no offensive down there. You two are demolitions experts aren't you?" Aaron inquired, breaking into a coughing fit.

"Yeah, Beat said something about breaking the Northern Tower down from beneath." Replied Loki.

"The Northern Tower is in the complete opposite direction, and those wouldn't be enough to bring down the tower from beneath, the thing is build on a rare upsurge of obsidian..." Aaron and the duo all had the same moment of realisation. There was the clank of a boot hitting metal from behind. They all turned at once, weapons at the ready, Aaron grabbing the reinforced phial from around his neck to make sure it was still there.

All of a sudden multiple steam-pipes began bursting and created a fog cloud around them. Aaron immediately led the group up to one of the recently burst pipes, to find that someone had crudely rammed a shiv into the pipe while they hadn't been looking. Loki leant in and examined the shiv. The craftsmanship was evidently Brotherhood, with the curved shard of diamond, glinting with the purple shimmers of enchantment; and the mahogany handle the blade was delicately inserted into a pristine birch handle with delicately carved finger grips. What made Aaron especially uneasy was the decorative "B" on the base of the blade.

"This is Brother Beatman's bla-" Loki began, before stopping abruptly and spluttering. In a few seconds he was on the floor, coughing up blood before going limp and crumbling to dust. In the midst of the pile was an almost identical blade to the one Loki had just pulled out of the pipe. Aaron and Johnny turned with their weapons towards their assailant.

"Weapons down boys, you might just hurt someone. We wouldn't want to lose anyone else after today's bloodbath. By the way you haven't seen a small shifty looking chap with a musket have you? I was supposed to meet him here." Came the haughty voice of Beatman as he strolled casually through the fog to the point where they could just make him out. His face was narrow and gaunt-looking like he had not slept or eaten properly in some days. He walked with a mild limp, as if something were causing him great pain or discomfort as he walked; as if he walked on broken glass. He had donned his traditional Brotherhood armour for a more traditional suit, only lacking a top-hat to look like one of the gentlemen of the city of Mojang. He evidently wasn't expecting much conflict.

"Hello I'm Complex Eight. pleased make your acquaintance. Before you grace me with the inevitable death threats I'd like to say that I've delved into some old Endling magic and it would be wise not to me off. Almost killed me but damn was it worth it. Now put the weapons down and-" He was cut off by a violent outburst from Johnny.

"Like hell we will! Brotherhood till I die mo-fo! BLARGHHH!" And he rushed at Complex Eight/Beatman, sword in hand, eyes clamped shut against the steam.

There was a blur and Beatman was gone, and Johnny had four identical blade protruding from his chest, him letting a low groan slip between his lips. Behind him was none other than Beatman, except, his skin appeared to be made of diamond, like Komplex when he went into battle. The suit was torn where the diamonds poked through, and his head was plated in what looked like a diamond hockey mask jammed crudely into a helmet. The blades that had killed Johnny were protruding from between Beat's knuckles (like wolverine's claws; clichéd I know but roll with me here). Beat placed his foot on Johnny's rump and unceremoniously tugged out the blade muttering "Never liked you anyway".

Beat readied to turned on Aaron when a phial of strange green liquid smashed against the left side of his face. The liquid itself was the colour of swamp grass, and smelled at least as foul as a swamp itself. The liquid would have been unpleasant to begin with, but then the burning started. He let out of his throat a great cry of pain, that pierced Aaron's eardrums. Thick grey smoke began to rise from the left half of his face; Aaron had a certain sense of Deja Vu. Thankfully this did not hamper his senses too long, and he followed it up by royally boxing Beat's ear. Beat crumpled to the floor, clasping his injured faced. As Aaron stood over him, Beat came to his senses and croaked "You're late, Three."

"Sorry," Came a familiar voice from behind Aaron. Aaron was about to turn and identify the new figure when a cold metal blade punched through the back of his chest and out through the front. Aaron felt himself tense up in pain, but managed to muster the strength to look down. Protruding from his chest was the unmistakable tip of a Gaian bayonet. It was authentic down to the monogrammed ASM, signifying the makers of the blade were Aaron's old company Authentic Stoneholm Manufacturing. They were most certainly a Gaian. "I've never been good at keeping deadlines." There was a bang and a gaping hole appeared in Aaron's chest, and a sensation of crumbling. He felt a boot on his back, a sensation of falling. He took some comfort as he saw the fingers crumble away before him. He would reform. Death had not yet come. 

Seconds before Aaron lost consciousness, he heard Eight and the unseen Three discussing. He tries to lift himself and see, but his arm collapsed. All he saw was a pair of boots stained with blood. 

"You're sure you won't come with us?" asked Beat. 

"Sorry, brother dearest, but there's more chaos to be sown among their ranks. Tell Falcon I'll be keeping my cover for the time being. I shall see you and the others in Mojang." He paused to laugh. "I've some had some ideas as to how best pull off our little gambit with the Silhouette."

Elsewhere the rest of us were still scrambling around the fortress, both witnessing the ever deteriorating situation for Overlord's men first-hand, and searching helplessly for a mod. At last we came to a courtyard lit by dawns early light and filled with marble statues, lush lawns, a lovely fountain and dozens of brawling soldiers. We were in luck, Ryan himself had just entered the courtyard with a squad of Void's men, along with a compilation of fighters from different groups. He was holed up a top the fountain, blasting back or stabbing anyone who dared come near him whilst simultaneously delivering orders and using his staff to pick up and lob heavy objects at a large iron door, which seemed to lead towards the Northern Tower.

A quick description of the Northern Tower is big, threatening, and filled to the brim with weapons and explosives. A true marvel of Vangaardian architecture; carved out of a great mound of obsidian which protruded from the earth, and then built upon with imported stone, said to be strong enough to survive a full on attack from one of the great Withers. 5 years ago to the date of the attack Vangaard had bought the city of Aegis and begun work on what would soon gain fame as one of the most secure structures in the Craft, only surpassed by the innermost Brotherhood vaults, the Woobly Pyramid and the Bunkers beneath the R7K citadel. Today, it was equipped with Overlords finest cannons and mortars, with an elite battalion stationed there at all times, with room for three more battalions (battalions being between 900 and 1,200 men). Most of his forces appeared to have retreated to the palace, and then many of those to the Northern Tower; for the Tower was raining hell upon the city. Ally and enemy were plainly not being distinguished between; the only goal was evidently to level anything within the minimum and maximum ranges in every direction.

We forced our way past a group of Overlord's men; having to leave Jolly, Broken and Insert behind to help Ubi. Starletts had woken up and was calling to his men to help him whilst wrestling with Ubi. Then, in a few moments Tauto, Ruary and I were standing before Ryan. He looked down for a moment and noticed our distraught faces.

"What's going on? Did you disable the weapon?" He asked in a half exited half panicked voice.

"No sir," Said Ruary, running a thorough report of the events. "We were duped on almost every level. The hostages got out but we were swayed by Ray to take an alternative route due to very real security boosts. By the way did you know he was-"

"Alive? I was told by a few boys from Team 2. I also know that's Starletts wrestling with Ubi right now thanks to them." Ryan responded, with a proud note in his voice at being in the know about something.

"Well then," Continued Ruary. "We discovered that he was Williams..." And thus Ruary continued up to the point of our present situation. "We can assume that Ray will be waiting in the hanger for you and the other Moderators."

"Mother of GOD!" Cried Ryan suddenly. "Viking is taking the others into the hanger to help out you guys and possibly disarm the weapon!"

"We've got to get there now!" Replied Tauto, pleased to have a definite mission. "What's the Fastest route?"

"Follow me..." Ryan stated coldly before hopping down from the fountain and beginning to walk in what we naturally assumed was the direction of the hanger.

"Wait." Said Ruary abruptly. Ryan turned almost indignantly to ask "What?"

"Take this." Ruary tossed him the Gauntlet. Ryan smiled in gratitude and slotted his arm in to that fabled weapon of his enemy.

"Let us go friends." He began, turning to the wider group of soldiers who had just driven out Overlord's men. "My men will stay here and tend to the wounded, holding this area until reinforcements arrive. The rest of you are with me. We're ending this here and now! Now we take the head of the Overlord!"

There was a rallying war-cry and we were off. I decided to look at who was among the six dozen or so of us who were charging through the previously empty corridors (unless you count a few corpses left to rot as the flies gathered around them). First of all there were about fifteen Vangaardian knights, led by the demi-mod, Gorbanth. Woe betide any who stood in the way of these by-the-book, but deadly warriors glad in iron and gold. Following them were a group of Legionnaires who were apparently leaderless. After them was a group of warriors from ELITE, their former green and blue emerald armour, replaced with blood red rubies, or at least very well painted emerald and or metal, with obsidian filling the replacing the lapis adornments where possible. These were led by Alec Mountain, Governor of Williamsburg, prince of the forest. Then there was a detachment of roughly twenty members of the Order and a bakers dozen of standard and elite soldiers; their appearance so tattered even the perpetual arrogance of the elite soldiers was temporarily silenced. We had had to leave Ubi and Insert behind due to injury, leaving just myself, Tauto, Ruary, Broken and Jolly as the remains of Team 3. Also among the crowd were Secret and Small, who came up beside me.

"Mind explaining what on Earth is going on?" Asked Secret pointedly.

"Ray is alive, Overlord, and on the verge of becoming all powerful thanks to a futuristic set of armour that can suck out people's souls." I blurted out, panting from lack of breath due to both running and speaking at the same time.

"So..." Secret was obviously disturbed by this information, looking nervously at Small. "As bad or worse than Zine"

"Less dangerous for now, but we're not as well equipped as we were then. Plus our enemy knows very well what he's up against this time, nor does he rely on the unreliable yet crushingly predictable behaviour of the creatures of the night."

"Well, at least we have them on the run." Muttered Small, annoyed at the lack of any positive info.

"We can't claim that for long," Secret retorted gravely. "Raylord has evidently been planning for this eventuality for quite a while. I assume this suit is one of the projects that was originally developed during "Operation Overlord". This is probably what Fedwin has been developing for the duration of his capture. By the way, what happened to Fedwin? I hear he wasn't among the escaped hostages."

"I imagine he wasn't." Ruary interjected, eyebrows furrowed in concentration. "He was one of Overlord's most important prisoners, if not the most important. He'll have been kept in solitary, probably in either the tower or the hanger at the moment.

"I must agree with you there Ruary. Excellent deductions. Glad to see that there are military minds to rival my own and Aaron's." Secret replied cheerfully, in his element. Small rolled his eyes; knowing that Secret was about to go into one of his famous rambles. Then Tauto interjected indignantly.

"Hey! We have some damn good minds in our collective as well." The pang of hurt that he had not been immediately included in the conversation and was now being excluded from praise was evident in his voice.

Secret was about to respond but Small cut across him sourly and cuttingly. "I'll admit that you have some fine economic minds, and you yourself are a damn politician, but you lack proper military strategy beyond the first few steps."

Tauto was about to respond with either a cutting insult or a long, deep counter-argument about why Small was wrong when the figure of Walt went flying over our heads screaming something about "not signing up for this". Then came the sound of metallic, maniacal laughter. Ray was quite obviously enjoying himself way too much. This was going to be difficult.

We entered into the hanger and were greeted by chaos itself. Around the room our lot were being overwhelmed by the forces of our enemies. The scene was that of Overlord's daily update videos; with the polished metal railings; the idyllic waterfall and lip of rock; there was even a camera in the middle of the room, with a small Latino man curled up on the floor, a chain leading to a peg hammered loosely into the floor. In the centre was Overlord, clad in white, with rings of men lying around him. It took me a second to notice but Ray was grappling with someone, and that the men lying closest to the two were unconscious Moderators. It didn't take me long to figure out that the person locked in combat with Ray was Viking.

Viking stabbed at Ray's head with his javelin, only to have it wrenched from his hand. Ray pulled it from his enemy's hand, knocking back Viking, before snapping it over his knee. Viking made to blast Ray back with his staff, thrusting with the strength of ten men. With a twirl Ray leapt to the right, Vikings blast doing little but blowing Fabio's (as I learned he was called) peg out of the floor. As Fabio jumped up in glee and fled from the Scene, Ray knocked the staff from Viking's grip and struck him upon the helm. As Viking toppled like a tree in lumber district Ray turned around slowly and triumphantly, arms spread like an eagle's.

"Who will face me?" Cried Ray; contempt evident in his tone, . "Where is the might of the Brotherhood?" He gestured to the ashes and a sword that were unmistakably Komplex. "The Gaians?" He gestured to a detachment of unconscious and or dead Gaians. "Legion?" He gestured to the corpse of Reagan. Ruary flinched momentarily at the sight of his fallen brother. "Arcation?" There was a strange lack of any arcation corpses but Ray did not seem to realise. "Did not a mere 10 years ago most of you convened in the Great Forum, in the face of Herobrine's Onslaught? Did many of you not boldly declare this Craft to contain the finest of all men? That nothing could break the strength and unity of this Craft? Well, I see ye who boasted have royally jinxed yourselves. Wait... Where're the Arcation bodies, where's my dead gogyst?"

At that point Vacar charged at Ray, swinging his fiery blade, cleaving a small but notable gash in the armour just beneath the left arm. Ray sadly, was only grazed, and was not vaguely fazed but very annoyed at the tear in his new suit. His left hand then morphed into a sword and was swung crudely at Vacar's head. Vacar blocked the blow with his flaming blade, but was caught in the throat by the other gauntlet. He staggered back momentarily, coughing into his hand and drawing it back to find blood spattered on in. He made a lurching movement that might have been an attempt on Ray's life but he ended up crumbling into Ray's arms, a hollow shell of dusty armour.

There was the sound of a twanging bowstring and Overlord jerked unwillingly forwards, turning to see Besta duck behind Walker's great stone shield. From his left shoulder protruded an arrow, whose eagle-feather fletchings were unmistakably of Arcation make. From either side charged Gogyst and Noobi, letting out horrific war cries, murder in their eyes. Ray had to think fast, and so he did. First he removed Walker's and Besta from the fight, with a dual-gauntleted blast that smashed into that wall of a shield. The great stone shield was reduced to chunks and powder as its master and Besta were thrust backwards by the sheer force of the explosion. Then he plucked the arrow from his shoulder, for it had only been lightly lodged in between two plates of his armour and had drawn no blood. This he then threw with precision into the chest of Noobi, who, whilst not slain, was forced to drop his sword in agony. The fluorescent light in the palm of Ray's hand glowed bright blue and the plummeting sword gained new purpose and soared, handle-first into Ray's outstretched hand.

Savouring the triumph of this skilful display(at least by his own standards) he failed to notice Gogyst come up behind him until he was being doused in fire. Gogyst observed the ball of flame exuding from the tip of his staff with almost sick triumph until the fuel ran out and the flame flickered away. Gogyst's face changed from malice to shock as what he anticipated to be a melted white ball of pain, was revealed a charred and somewhat angry, but otherwise unharmed Ray. He was chortling insanely to himself.

"Was that supposed to hurt? I'll admit it tickled a bit but is that all you are capable off? If I wanted to be amused I'd have employed the services of a nanny, not confront the chieftain of Arcation." He droned in a purposefully droll and mocking tone.

Gogyst snarled at Ray's jeers and charged in anger, and swung at Ray's throat with the tip of his staff. The blade however, despite its most precise effort to find flesh, was greeted by the flat of Noobi's steel blade. Gogyst, used to this scenario pressed a button on the shaft and a small poison-tipped dart sprang out into Ray's face. The dart however was just as useless as the spear, bouncing off of Ray's mask, causing him to do little more than flinch mildly. Ray then followed up this successful strategy of blocks by clouting Gogyst around the head with his free hand. There was a cracking noise and Gogyst fell with a thud, his eyes hazy and his jaw hanging open in a sickeningly wide and distorted manner. His staff clattered to the floor just out of his reach. Gogyst and Ray both saw the weapon at once and both moved to react. Gogyst spun and kicked Ray in the shoulder, knocking away his outstretched arm. Gogyst grabbed the spear low in the shaft, and, wielding it like some form of crude club swung it at his oncoming opponent. However, just as it smashed into the dazzling white mask, the blade of Noobi sank into his wrist. Gogyst let out a shriek of pain as his bloodied, gloved hand fell to the floor. Ray however was not unscathed, he was doubled over, holding his hand to his eye. He drew it away and straightened up. In one eye the light had gone dim and there was a long twisting crack coming down from the dimmed eye. From this crack poured blood, not much but enough to lift our spirits.

From somewhere in the the crowd someone cried "ATTACK" and we fell upon him. Ruary halted a moment to warn Ryan and Gorbanth away from joining the fighting. They consented and he rushed off to join the rest of us. In the centre a slaughter was taking place, Ray brutally battering our men as some brave souls tried to remove the fallen Moderators from the fray. In order to avoid the general massacre, Secret, Small and I decided to try out some old tactics. 

"Time for the explosive dagger brothers to make a return," I muttered to the pair, and we set about our old technique. 

I rushed as close as I dared to Ray and crouched, fingers knitted together so as to give them a boost. Secret sprinted at me, being thrust over my head as he stepped in my hand, firing an explosive arrow into Ray's chest. Ray gave a small bit of ground and the light on his chest flickered momentarily, but he was much unperturbed. Then Small came in, being chucked in a similar fashion, and slicing down on the place where Secret had just blasted, leaving an "X" shaped gash in his chest and causing the light to continuously flicker like a damp torch. Before he could finish the job however he was grabbed by the throat and thrown into the crowd.

Our men, try as they might could not break his defences, but he was shattering our offence. He simply needed to strike a man and he would fall. WHACK, one man down. CRACK, two more fallen. SNAP, another's spine was shattered over his knee. It seemed impossible and we began to give ground, only to find that Besta had taken the initiative whilst we were all allowing ourselves to be made fools of. He had organised the archers and four riflemen into a ring around Overlord and as we retreated he gave the order. Overlord was suddenly caught in an endless storm of arrows and bullets. Soon everyone who could was involved, even if just throwing rocks. Yet still he was able to fire blasts of that strange blue flame and fell our men at almost regular intervals. Yet we were still doing little damage in comparison.

"There has to be some way to do this..." thought Secret frantically. Then, noticing the ceiling he allowed his bowstring to slacken and his eyes to wander up to the uneven limestone ceiling. Then he saw it, conveniently located just above Ray's head was a large and seemingly loose stalactite. He returned the arrow already nocked to his quiver and plucked his last explosive arrow. He drew the bowstring back sharply, to the point where his hands began to quiver from the strain and took careful and delicate aim. A bead of sweat trickled down Secret's forehead. He knew he only had one shot at this and he was going to make it count. However, just as he was about to let the arrow fly, a strange whiskey bottle soared through the air, twirling as it did so.

The bottle shattered on the stalactite, bursting into flames. The great knife point of stone began to shake and the ceiling around it began to crack and shower Ray in dust. He ceased from the slaughter and all began to fall back as he stared in confusion at the shattering ceiling. Then there was a sudden crack and the heavens fell upon Ray. In a few moments there was little more than a pile of rubble where he was. The fingers of his gauntlet were poking out from beneath the rocks, looking quite limp. Overlord's men retreated in terror, seeing that their leader had been vanquished.

"He's dead..." Came the mumble of Gorbanth, who had approached the pile cautiously. "I can't believe it he's actually dead! WE'VE WON!"

There was a raucous wave applause from among the men, I myself joined in. Secret looked gleefully at me from his position on the other side of the ring. I returned the gesture and we returned our gaze to Gorbanth who was calling for quiet.

"I believe we all have one man to thank for this great victory. That man is right up there on that walkway, Viral!" He gestured to a dancing Viral, clasping his fiery whiskey bottles and wearing his mask. He had evidently gotten lost again and had done it for leisure, possibly not even realising it would fall on anyone. He looked like he was about to toss a whiskey bottle into the crowd in his excitement. He never got the chance to brutally maim those eager young Legionnaires he was taking such care to aim for.

From the pile of rubble had come a tidal wave of solid light. We were all blown backwards, in a daze from the force of the blow. In the centre of it all was a badly dented and extremely dusty Ray, floating two inches off of the ground. The bottom right corner of his mask was missing, showing the bleeding and bruised corner of his mouth. My vision was hazy and I was phasing in and out of consciousness.

Ryan struck Ray round the head with his staff, the sound of metal on stone ringing around the hanger. All went black. Then Ryan was struck in the gut, wind rushing from his lungs. The blur that was Ray knocked the staff from the Ryan blur's hands. All went black again. Ray was standing over the fallen Ryan, my vision clearer now. All turned to black as Ray lifted Ryan by the throat up to eye level. My eyes snapped open as Ray's gauntlet turned and Ryan began thrashing. I thought all was lost, Ray would have the power of a moderator. Dominus won whether he got the suit or not. It was over.

But then the most peculiar thing happened. Ryan's pupils narrowed in concentration, and he stopped thrashing. With a shaking hand he gripped the damaged light in Ray's breastplate. His other hand was drawing back, as if to push Ray back. His fingers dug deep into the brittle quartz around the light, causing it to crumble like dry sand. Then, with the strength of a dozen men, Ryan wrenched it from Ray's chest, simultaneously slamming his other palm into his opponent's bare breast. Ray soared out of the room with the speed of the wind. We all hauled ourselves to our feet, hobbling towards the edge. We all looked down in dazed curiosity to find the same almost sorry sight.

Ray lay spread-eagled on the rocks below, seemingly gasping for air. From his back came a steady flow of crimson blood. A number of wild dogs came up and began to lap at the blood, having been starved of food since Overlord's men came and took to hunting animals in excess, leaving little worth mentioning. A few of the men broke into half-hearted cheers that eventually gave way to hearty applause. But there was an air of hollowness to it. There was something we had missed, I was sure of it. I turned to look at Ryan, who was sat atop a rock, looking dumbfounded.

"Cubs, Gorb, scrape Ray off of those rocks will you? He'll stick. And for god's sake will someone tend to Gogy's hand, he's bleeding out over there!" Viking attempting to force levity into his tone and not succeeding. He walked up to Ryan and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"The successor will surpass his master in strength, and cut off the head of the family..." Ryan said in an excited but terrified voice, the breath seemingly removed from his lungs.

"...and from the verge of demise shall defeat the would be divine. Yet heed my warning. Thy successor shall lead the Craft into a golden age, at the sacrifice of thine own life... Thus were Huskers' words those long years ago, Ryan." Viking said soothingly, embracing him.

While I struggled to grasp what this meant, Ryan broke down into silent tears of mourning. "For whom does he weep?" I asked Celtic in a whisper.

"For a man who has yet to die..." Celtic murmured cryptically.


End file.
